Recording medium, recording apparatus and recording method for recording data into recording medium, and reproducing apparatus, and reproducing method for reproducing data from recording medium

ABSTRACT

Data is recorded in a data area of a disk in a hierarchical structure of program chains, programs, cells and packs, each pack is constructed by a pack header for identifying the pack and a packet having a data stream recorded therein, the packet has a packet header having a stream ID indicating at least a private stream and a sub-stream ID indicating the classification of the private stream described therein, and the classification indicates packet data of Dolby AC3 audio data, packet data of linear audio data, packet data of sub-picture data, or packet data of computer data.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0001] 1. Field of the Invention

[0002] This invention relates to a recording medium such as an opticaldisk for recording data items of different classifications used fordifferent purposes, for example, compressed moving picture data andaudio data, a recording apparatus for recording data into the recordingmedium, a recording method for recording data into the recording medium,a reproducing apparatus for reproducing data from the recording medium,and a reproducing method for reproducing data from the recording medium.

[0003] 2. Description of the Related Art

[0004] Conventionally, as a system for compressing (coding) digitalmoving picture image data and audio data, an MPEG (Moving PictureExperts Group) system is internationally standardized. The MPEGcompression system is a system for subjecting digital moving pictureimage data and audio data to the variable-length compression.

[0005] Further, the system format system corresponding to the MPEGcompression system is defined as an MPEG system layer.

[0006] The MPEG system layer is so defined as to be easily dealt with ina communication system, and transfer starting time and reproductionstarting time represented by using reference time are defined for movingpicture data, audio data and other data so that the above data items canbe transferred and reproduced in synchronism with one another.

[0007] Further, in the MPEG system layer, the data classifications ofmoving picture compressed data stream (MPEG moving picture data) andaudio compressed data stream (MPEG audio data) are defined by use ofstream ID, and the other data classification can be defined by the useras a private stream.

[0008] However, in this case, the user can add but two kinds of dataclassification which, and the expandability is limited.

[0009] As a result, it becomes impossible to freely deal with variousclassifications of data items and cope with the condition in themultimedia age.

[0010] Further, if a maximum data length is set for packets of dataother than MPEG audio data and if the data length of the packet cannotbe divided by the number of data items of a completed frame data block,the preceding data block will enter the packet and there occurs apossibility that the starting address of the frame data block cannot bedetermined, and when data is reproduced halfway, it may be impossible toreproduce the data.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0011] An object of this invention is to make it possible to deal withvarious classifications of data items.

[0012] Further, another object of this invention is to make it possibleto reproduce data halfway when data to be dealt with is linear audiodata, and make it possible to easily detect the environment in whichdata can be used when data to be dealt with is computer data.

[0013] According to this invention, there is provided a recording mediumcomprising a management area formed in part of an area; and a data areaformed in another area; wherein data is divided into a plurality ofprogram chains and recorded in the data area in a hierarchical structurein which each of the program chains is constructed by a plurality ofprograms, one program is constructed by a plurality of cells, and onecell is constructed by a plurality of packs, each pack is constructed bya pack header for identifying the pack and a packet having a data streamrecorded therein, and the packet is constructed by a picket headerhaving data indicating at least a private stream, data indicating theclassification of the private stream, and packet data corresponding tothe classification; and management data for managing the connectionbetween the program chains, programs, cells and packs in the data areais recorded in the management area.

[0014] According to this invention, there is provided a recording mediumcomprising a management area formed in part of an area; and a data areaformed in another area; wherein a plurality of programs are recorded inthe data area in a hierarchical structure in which one program isconstructed by a plurality of packs, each pack is constructed by a packheader for identifying the pack and a packet having a data streamrecorded therein, and the packet is constructed by a packet headerhaving data indicating at least a private stream, data indicating theclassification of the private stream, and packet data corresponding tothe classification; and management data for managing the connectionbetween the programs and packs in the data area is recorded in themanagement area.

[0015] According to this invention, there is provided a is recordingapparatus for recording data on a recording medium which includes amanagement area formed in part of an area, and a data area formed inanother area and in which data is divided into a plurality of programchains and recorded in the data area in a hierarchical structure inwhich each of the program chains is constructed by a plurality ofprograms, one program is constructed by a plurality of cells, and onecell is constructed by a plurality of packs, each pack includes a packheader for identifying the pack and a packet having data recordedtherein; comprising reception means for receiving audio data orsub-picture data; first creating means for creating a pack by adding apack header for identifying the pack to a packet which includes packetdata constructed by frame data of part of audio data received by thereception means, a start address of the frame data, a stream number ofthe audio data and data indicating the audio data, and a packet headerhaving a packet length and data indicating that the packet data is aprivate stream; second creating means for creating a pack by adding apack header for identifying the pack to a packet which includes packetdata constructed by part of sub-picture data received by the receptionmeans, a stream number of the sub-picture data and data indicating thesub-picture data, and a packet header having a packet length and dataindicating that the packet data is a private stream; and recording meansfor recording the pack created by the first and second creating means onthe recording medium.

[0016] According to this invention, there is provided a recordingapparatus for recording data on a recording medium which includes amanagement area formed in part of an area, and a data area formed inanother area and in which data is divided into a plurality of programchains and recorded in the data area in a hierarchical structure inwhich each of the program chains is constructed by a plurality ofprograms, one program is constructed by a plurality of cells, and onecell is constructed by a plurality of packs, each pack includes a packheader for identifying the pack and a packet having data recordedtherein; comprising reception means for receiving Dolby AC3 audio data,linear audio data, computer data or sub-picture data; first creatingmeans for creating a pack by adding a pack header for identifying thepack to a packet which includes packet data constructed by frame data ofpart of Dolby AC3 audio data received by the reception means, a startaddress of the frame data, a stream number of the Dolby AC3 audio dataand data indicating the Dolby AC3 audio data, and a packet header havinga packet length and data indicating that the packet data is a privatestream; second creating means for creating a pack by adding a packheader for identifying the pack to a packet which includes packet dataconstructed by frame data of part of linear audio data received by thereception means, a start address of the frame data, a stream number ofthe linear audio data and data indicating the linear audio data, and apacket header having a packet length and data indicating that the packetdata is a private stream; third creating means for creating a pack byadding a pack header for identifying the pack to a packet which includespacket data constructed by part of computer data received by thereception means, environmental data of an application CPU andapplication OS of the computer data and data indicating the computerdata, and a packet header having a packet length and data indicatingthat the packet data is a private stream; fourth creating means forcreating a pack by adding a pack header for identifying the pack to apacket which includes packet data constructed by part of sub-picturedata received by the reception means, a stream number of the sub-picturedata and data indicating the sub-picture data, and a packet headerhaving a packet length and data indicating that the packet data is aprivate stream; and recording means for recording the pack created bythe first to fourth creating means on the recording medium.

[0017] According to this invention, there is provided a reproducingapparatus for reproducing recorded data for each pack from a recordingmedium which includes a management area formed in part of an area, and adata area formed in another area and in which data is divided into aplurality of program chains and recorded in the data area in ahierarchical structure in which each of the program chains isconstructed by a plurality of programs, one program is constructed by aplurality of cells, and one cell is constructed by a plurality of packs,each pack includes a pack header for identifying the pack and a packethaving data recorded therein; comprising reading means for reading datafor each pack on the recording medium; first determining means fordetermining whether or not data indicating a private stream is presentin a packet header of a pack read by the reading means and determiningdata length; second determining means for determining whether data isaudio data or sub-picture data according to classification data of astream which is successively read when the first determining means hasdetermined the private stream; first extraction means for extractingaudio data in the pack data read by the reading means by an amountcorresponding to the data length determined by the first determiningmeans according to a start address of frame data which is successivelyread after the classification data of the stream when the seconddetermining means has determined the audio data; second extraction meansfor extracting data in the pack data successively read by the readingmeans after the classification data-of the stream by an amountcorresponding to the data length determined by the first determiningmeans when the second determining means has determined the sub-picturedata; demodulating means for subjecting data extracted by the first orsecond extraction means to a demodulation process corresponding toclassification of data determined by the second determining means; andoutput means for outputting data demodulated by the demodulating means.

[0018] According to this invention, there is provided a reproducingapparatus for reproducing recorded data for each pack from a recordingmedium which includes a management area formed in part of an area, and adata area formed in another area and in which data is divided into aplurality of program chains and recorded in the data area in ahierarchical structure in which each of the program chains isconstructed by a plurality of programs, one program is constructed by aplurality of cells, and one cell is constructed by a plurality of packs,each pack includes a pack header for identifying the pack and a packethaving data recorded therein; comprising reading means for reading datafor each pack on the recording medium; first determining means fordetermining whether or not data indicating a private stream is presentin a packet header of a pack read by the reading means and determiningdata length; second determining means for determining whether data isDolby AC3 audio data, linear audio data, computer data or sub-picturedata according to classification data of a stream which is successivelyread when the first determining means has determined the private stream;first extraction means for extracting Dolby AC3 audio data or linearaudio data in the pack data read by the reading means by an amountcorresponding to the data length determined by the first determiningmeans according to a start address of frame data which is successivelyread after the classification data of the stream when the seconddetermining means has determined the Dolby AC3 audio data or linearaudio data; second extraction means for extracting environmental data ofapplication CPU and application OS successively read after theclassification data of the stream and extracting data in the pack datasuccessively read by the reading means after the environmental data byan amount corresponding to the data length determined by the firstdetermining means when the second determining means has determined thecomputer data; third extraction means for extracting data in the packdata successively read by the reading means after the classificationdata of the stream by an amount corresponding to the data lengthdetermined by the first determining means when the second determiningmeans has determined the sub-picture data; demodulating means forsubjecting data extracted by the first or third extraction means to ademodulation process corresponding to the classification of datadetermined by the second determining means; first output means foroutputting data demodulated by the demodulating means; and second outputmeans for outputting program data extracted by the second extractionmeans and environmental data thereof.

[0019] Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be setforth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious fromthe description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. Theobjects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained bymeans of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed outin the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in andconstitute a part of the specification, illustrate a presently preferredembodiment of the invention and, together with the general descriptiongiven above and the detailed description of the preferred embodimentgiven below, serve to explain the principles of the invention.

[0021]FIG. 1 is a schematic block diagram of an optical disk apparatusaccording to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0022]FIG. 2 is a detailed block diagram of the mechanical section ofthe disk drive unit of FIG. 1;

[0023]FIG. 3 is a schematic perspective view of the structure of anoptical disk loaded in the disk drive unit of FIG. 1;

[0024]FIG. 4 shows the structure of the logic format of the optical diskof FIG. 3;

[0025]FIG. 5 shows the structure of the video manager of FIG. 4;

[0026]FIG. 6 shows an example of the structure of the video object set(VOBS) shown in FIG. 5;

[0027]FIG. 7 is a diagram to help explain the structure of the videoobject unit of FIG. 6;

[0028]FIG. 8 shows the parameters and contents of the video mangerinformation management table (VMGI_MAT) in the video manager (VMGI) ofFIG. 5;

[0029]FIG. 9 shows the structure of the title search pointer table(TT_SRPT) in the video manager (VMGI) of FIG. 5;

[0030]FIG. 10 shows the parameters and contents of the title searchpointer table information (TT-SRPTI) in the title search pointer table(TSPT) of FIG. 9;

[0031]FIG. 11 shows the parameters and contents of the title searchpointer (TT_SRP) corresponding to the input number in the title searchpointer table (TSPT) of FIG. 9;

[0032]FIG. 12 illustrates the structure of the video title set of FIG.4;

[0033]FIG. 13 shows the parameters and contents of the video title setinformation management table (VTSI_MAT) of the video title setinformation (VTSI) of FIG. 12;

[0034]FIG. 14 illustrates the structure of the video title set programchain information table (VTS_PGCIT) of the video title set information(VTSI) of FIG. 12;

[0035]FIG. 15 shows the parameters and contents of the information(VTS_PGCIT_I) in the video title set program chain information table(VTS_PGCIT) of FIG. 14;

[0036]FIG. 16 shows the parameters and contents of the search pointer(VTS_PGCIT_SRP) corresponding to the program chain in the video titleset program chain information table (VTS_PGCIT) of FIG. 14;

[0037]FIG. 17 illustrates the structure of the program chain information(VTS_PGCI) in the video set corresponding to the program chain in thevideo title set program chain information table (VTS_PGCIT) of FIG. 14;

[0038]FIG. 18 shows the parameters and contents of the program chaingeneral information (PGC_GI) in the program chain information (VTS_PGCI)of FIG. 17;

[0039]FIG. 19 illustrates the structure of a program chain map(PGC_PGMAP) of the program chain information (VTS_PGCI) of FIG. 17;

[0040]FIG. 20 shows the parameters and contents of the entry cellnumbers (ECELLN) corresponding to the programs written in the programchain map (PGC_PGMAP) of FIG. 19;

[0041]FIG. 21 illustrate the structure of the cell playback informationtable (C_PBIT) of the program chain information (VTS_PGCI) of FIG. 17;

[0042]FIG. 22 shows the parameters and contents of the cell playbackinformation table (C_PBIT) of FIG. 21;

[0043]FIG. 23 illustrates the structure of the cell position information(C_POSI) in the program chain information (VTS_PGCI) of FIG. 18;

[0044]FIG. 24 shows the parameters and contents of the cell positioninformation (C_POSI) of FIG. 23;

[0045]FIG. 25 illustrates the structure of the navigation pack of FIG.6;

[0046]FIG. 26 illustrates the structure of the video, audio,sub-picture, or VBI pack of FIG. 6;

[0047]FIG. 27 shows the parameters and contents of the playback controlinformation (PCI) in the navigation pack of FIG. 26;

[0048]FIG. 28 shows the parameters and contents of the generalinformation (PCI_GI) in the playback control information (PCI) of FIG.27;

[0049]FIG. 29 shows the parameters and contents of the disk searchinformation (DSI) in the navigation pack of FIG. 26;

[0050]FIG. 30 shows the parameters and contents of the DSI generalinformation (DSI_GI) in the disk search information of FIG. 29;

[0051]FIG. 31 shows the parameters and contents of the synchronizingplayback information (SYNCI) on the video object (VOB) of FIG. 29;

[0052]FIGS. 32, 33 are diagrams for illustrating the structure of apack;

[0053]FIG. 34 is a diagram for illustrating an example of adjustment ina case where the adjustment data length is seven bytes or more;

[0054]FIG. 35 is a diagram for illustrating an example of adjustment ina case where the adjustment data length is six bytes or less;

[0055]FIGS. 36A, 36B are diagrams for illustrating the structure of avideo pack;

[0056]FIGS. 37A, 37B are diagrams for illustrating the structure of anaudio pack;

[0057]FIG. 38 is a diagram for illustrating the structure of asub-picture pack;

[0058]FIG. 39 is a diagram for illustrating the structure of a computerdata pack;

[0059]FIG. 40 is a diagram for illustrating the environmentalclassification of computer data;

[0060]FIG. 41 is a diagram for illustrating the structure of stream ID;

[0061]FIG. 42 is a diagram for illustrating the content of sub-stream IDfor private stream 1;

[0062]FIG. 43 is a diagram for illustrating the content of sub-stream IDfor private stream 2;

[0063]FIG. 44 is a diagram for illustrating the structure of an audiopack and packet;

[0064]FIG. 45 is a diagram for illustrating the structure of a computerdata pack and packet;

[0065]FIG. 46 is a diagram for illustrating the structure of asub-picture pack and packet;

[0066]FIG. 47 is a block diagram for illustrating the construction of apacket transfer processing section;

[0067]FIG. 48 is a flowchart for illustrating the procedure of areproduction process for video data, audio data, sub-picture data, andcomputer data;

[0068]FIG. 49 is a flowchart for illustrating the packet transferringprocess;

[0069]FIG. 50 is a block diagram of an encoder system that encodes thevideo data and generates a video file;

[0070]FIG. 51 is a flowchart for an encoding process of FIG. 50;

[0071]FIG. 52 is a flowchart for combining the main video data, audiodata, and sup-picture data all encoded according to the flow of FIG. 51to create a video data file;

[0072]FIG. 53 is a block diagram of a disk formatter system that recordsthe formatted video files on an optical disk;

[0073]FIG. 54 is a flowchart for creating logic data to be recorded on adisk in the disk formatter of FIG. 53;

[0074]FIG. 55 is a flowchart for creating from the logic data thephysical data to be recorded on a disk; and

[0075]FIG. 56 is a schematic diagram of a system that transfers thevideo title set of FIG. 4 via a communication route.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

[0076] Hereinafter, referring to the accompanying drawings, an opticaldisk reproducing apparatus according to an embodiment of the presentinvention will be explained.

[0077]FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an optical disk reproducing apparatusthat reproduces the data from an optical disk associated with anembodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of thedisk drive section that drives the optical disk shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 3shows the structure of the optical disk shown in FIGS. 1 and 2.

[0078] As shown in FIG. 1, the optical disk reproducing apparatuscomprises a key/display section 4, a monitor section 6, and a speakersection 8. When the user operates the key/display section 4, this causesthe recorded data to be reproduced from an optical disk 10. The recordeddata contains video data; sub-picture data, and audio data, which areconverted into video signals and audio signals. The monitor section 6displays images according to the video signals and the speaker section 8generates sound according to the audio signals.

[0079] It is known that the optical disk 10 is available with variousstructures. For instance, one type of the optical disk 10 is a read-onlydisk on which data is recorded with a high density as shown in FIG. 3.The optical disk 10, as shown in FIG. 3, is made up of a pair ofcomposite layers 18 and an adhesive layer 20 sandwiched between thecomposite disk layers 18. Each of the composite disk layers 18 iscomposed of a transparent substrate 14 and a recording layer or alight-reflecting layer 16. The disk layer 18 is arranged so that thelight-reflecting layer 16 may be in contact with the surface of theadhesive layer 20. A center hole 22 is made in the optical disk 10. Onthe periphery of the center hole 22 on both sides, clamping areas 24 areprovided which are used to clamp the optical disk 10 during itsrotation. When the disk 10 is loaded in the optical disk apparatus, thespindle of a spindle motor 12 shown in FIG. 2 is inserted into thecenter hole 22. As long as the disk is being rotated, it continuesclamped at the clamping areas 24.

[0080] As shown in FIG. 3, the optical disk 10 has an information zone25 around the clamping zone 24 on each side, the information zonesallowing the information to be recorded on the optical disk 10. In eachinformation area 25, its outer circumference area is determined to be alead-out area 26 in which no information is normally recorded, its innercircumference area adjoining the clamping area 24 is determined to be alead-in area 27 in which no information is normally recorded, and thearea between the lead-out area 26 and the lead-in area 27 is determinedto be a data recording area 28.

[0081] At the recording layer 16 in the information area 25, acontinuous spiral track is normally formed as an area in which data isto be recorded. The continuous track is divided into a plurality ofphysical sectors, which are assigned serial numbers. On the basis of thesectors, data is recorded. The data recording area 28 in the informationrecording area 25 is an actual data recording area, in which managementdata, main video data, sub-picture data, and audio data are recorded inthe form of pits (that is, in the form of changes in the physical state)as explained later. With the read-only optical disk 10, a train of pitsis previously formed in the transparent substrate 14 by a stamper, areflecting layer is formed by evaporation on the surface of thetransparent substrate 14 in which the pit train is formed, and thereflecting layer serves as the recording layer 16. In the read-onlyoptical disk 10, a groove is normally not provided as a track and thepit train in the surface of the transparent substrate 14 serves as atrack.

[0082] The optical disk apparatus 12, as shown in FIG. 1, furthercomprises a disk drive section 30, a system CPU section 50, a systemROM/RAM section 52, a system processor section 54, a data RAM section60, a video decoder 58, an audio decoder section 60, a sub-picturedecoder section 62, and a D/A and data reproducing section 64. Thesystem processor section 54 is provided with a system time clock (STC)54A and a register 54B. The video decorder section 58, audio decordersection 60, and sub-picture decorder section 62 are also provided withsystem time clocks (STC) 58A, 60A, 62A, respectively.

[0083] As shown in FIG. 2, the disk drive section 30 contains a motordriving circuit 11, a spindle motor 12, an optical head 32 (i.e., anoptical pickup), a feed motor 33, a focus circuit 36, a feed motordriving circuit 37, a tracking circuit 38, a head amplifier 40, and aservo processing circuit 44. The optical disk 10 is placed on thespindle motor 12 driven by the motor driving circuit 11 and is rotatedby the spindle motor 12. The optical head 32 that projects a laser beamon the optical disk 10 is located under the optical disk 10. The opticalhead 32 is placed on a guide mechanism (not shown). The feed motordriving circuit 37 is provided to supply a driving signal to the feedmotor 33. The motor 33 is driven by the driving signal and moves in andout the optical head 32 across the radius of the optical disk 10. Theoptical head 32 is provided with an object lens 34 positioned so as toface the optical disk 10. The object lens 34 is moved according to thedriving signal supplied from the focus circuit 36 so as to move alongits optical axis.

[0084] To reproduce the data from the above optical disk, the opticalhead 32 projects a laser beam on the optical disk 10 via the object lens34. The object lens 34 is moved little by little across the radius ofthe optical disk 10 according to the driving signal supplied from thetracking circuit 38. Furthermore, the object lens 34 is moved along itsoptical axis according to the driving signal supplied from the focusingcircuit 36 so that its focal point may be positioned on the recordinglayer 16 of the optical disk 10. This causes the laser beam to form thesmallest beam spot on the spiral track (i.e., the pit train), enablingthe beam spot to trace the track. The laser beam is reflected from therecording layer 16 and returned to the optical head 32. The optical head32 converts the beam reflected from the optical disk 10 into an electricsignal, which is supplied from the optical head 32 to the servoprocessing circuit 44 via the head amplifier 40. From the electricsignal, the servo processing circuit 44 produces a focus signal, atracking signal, and a motor control signal and supplies these signalsto the focus circuit 36, tracking circuit 38, and motor driving circuit11, respectively.

[0085] Therefore, the object lens 34 is moved along its optical axis andacross the radius of the optical disk 10, its focal point is positionedon the recording layer 16 of the optical disk 10, and the laser beamforms the smallest beam spot on the spiral track. Furthermore, thespindle motor 12 is rotated by the motor driving circuit 11 at aspecific rotating speed. This allows the beam to track at, for example,a constant linear speed.

[0086] The system CPU section 50 of FIG. 1 supplies to the servoprocessing circuit 44 a control signal serving as an access signal. Inresponse to the control signal, the servo processing circuit 44 suppliesa head-moving signal to the feed motor driving circuit 37, whichsupplies a driving signal to the feed motor 33. Then, the feed motor 33is driven, causing the optical head 32 to move across the radius of theoptical disk 10. Then, the optical head 32 accesses a specific sectorformed at the recording layer 16 of the optical disk 10. The data isreproduced from the specific sector by the optical head 32, which thensupplies it to the head amplifier 40. The head amplifier 40 amplifiesthe reproduced data, which is outputted at the disk drive section 30.

[0087] The reproduced data is transferred and stored in a data RAMsection 56 by the system processor section 54 which is controlled by thesystem CPU section 50 which is operated in accordance with the programsstored in the system ROM/RAM section 52. The stored reproduced data isprocessed at the system processor section 54, which sorts the data intovideo data, audio data, and sub-picture data, which are supplied to thevideo decoder section 58, audio decoder section 60, and sub-picturedecoder section 62, respectively, and are decoded at the respectivedecoders. The D/A and data-reproducing section 64 converts the decodedvideo data, audio data, and sub-picture data into an analog videosignal, an analog audio signal, and an analog sub-picture signal,subjects these signal to a mixing process, and supplies the resultingvideo signal and sub-picture signal to the monitor section 6 and theresulting audio signal to the speaker section 8. Then, on the basis ofthe video signal and sup-picture signal, an image is displayed on themonitor section 6 and according to the audio signal, sound issimultaneously reproduced from the speaker section 8.

[0088] The detailed operation of the optical disk apparatus of FIG. 1will be described later with reference to the logic format of theoptical disk explained below.

[0089] The data recording area 28 between the lead-in area 27 and thelead-out area 26 on the optical disk of FIG. 1 has a volume and filestructure as shown in FIG. 4. The structure has been determined inconformity to specific logic format standards, such as Micro UDF or ISO9660. The data recording area 28 is physically divided into a pluralityof sectors as described earlier. These physical sectors are assignedserial numbers. In the following explanation, a logical address means alogical sector number (LSN) as Determined in Micro UDF or ISO 9660. Likea physical sector, a logical sector contains 2048 bytes. The numbers(LSN) of logical sectors are assigned consecutively in ascending orderas the physical sector number increments.

[0090] As shown in FIG. 4, the volume and file structure is a hierarchicstructure and contains a volume and file structure area 70, a videomanager 71, at least one video title set #i 72, and another recordedarea 73. These areas 70, 71, 72, 73 are aligned with the boundariesbetween logical sectors. As with a conventional CD, a logical sector isdefined as a set of 2048 bytes. Accordingly, one logical sectorcorresponds to one logical block.

[0091] The volume and file structure area 70 corresponds to a managementarea determined in Micro UDF or ISO 9660. According to the descriptionin the management area, the video manager 71 is stored in the systemROM/RAM section 52. As explained with reference to FIG. 5, theinformation used to manage video title sets 72 is written in the videomanager 71, which is composed of a plurality of files, starting withfile #0. In each video title set 72, compressed video data, compressedaudio data, compressed sub-picture data, and the reproducing informationabout these data items are stored as explained later. Each video titleset is composed of a plurality of files 74. The number of video titlesets 72 is limited to a maximum of 99. Furthermore, the number of files74 (from file #j to file #j+9) constituting each video title set 72 isdetermined to be a maximum of 10. These files 72 are also aligned withthe boundaries between logical sectors.

[0092] In the other recorded area 73, the information capable ofutilizing the aforementioned video title sets 72 is recorded. The otherrecorded areas 73 are not necessarily provided.

[0093] As shown in FIG. 5, the video manager 71 contains at least threeitems each corresponding to individual files 74. Specifically, the videomanager 71 is made up of video manager information (VMGI) 75, a videoobject set for video manager menu (VMGM_VOBS) 76, and backup of videomanager information (VMGI_BUP) 77. Here, the video manager information(VMGI) 75 and the backup of video manager information (VMGI_BUP) 77 aredetermined to be indispensable items, and the video object set for videomanager menu (VMGM_VOBS) 76 is determined to be an optional item. In thevideo object set 76 for VMGM, the video data, audio data, andsup-picture data about a menu of the volumes of the optical disk managedby the video manager 71 are stored.

[0094] By the video object set 76 for VMGM (VMGM_VOBS), the volume nameof the optical disk 10, the sound accompanying the volume namerepresentation, and the description of the sub-picture are displayed andat the same time, selectable items are provided in the form ofsub-pictures as in video reproduction explained later. For example, thevideo object set 76 for VMGM (VMGM_VOBS) indicates that the optical disk10 contains the video data representing the matches a boxer played untilhe won a world championship. Specifically, a fighting pose of boxer X,together with a volume name, such as the glorious history of boxer X, isreproduced in the form of video data and at the same time, his themesong is reproduced in sound, and his chronological table is provided ina sup-picture. Furthermore, the user is asked which language option toselect, English or Japanese, in doing the narration of the matches. Atthe same time, the user is asked whether a caption in another languageshould be provided in a sub-picture or which language option should beselected for a caption. Thus, for example, the VMGM video object set 76(VMGM_VOBS) provides the user with preparations to watch a video of amatch of boxer X in English speech with a sub-picture using Japanesecaptions.

[0095] Here, the structure of a video object set (VOBS) 82 will bedescribed with reference to FIG. 6. FIG. 6 shows an example of a videoobject set (VOBS) 82. The video object set (VOBS) 82 comes in threetypes for two menus and a title. Specifically, the video object set(VOBS) 82 contains the video title set for video manager menu(VMGM_VOBS) 76, a video object set (VTSM_VOBS) 95 for a menu in thevideo title sets 72 and a video object set (VTSTT_VOBS) 82 for thetitles of at least one video title set 72 in a video title set (VTS) 72as explained later. Each video object set 82 has the same structureexcept that their uses differ.

[0096] As shown in FIG. 6, a video object set (VOBS) 82 is defined as aset of one or more video objects (VOB) 83. The video objects 83 in avideo object set (VOBS) 82 is used for the same application. A videoobject set (VOBS) 82 for menus is usually made up of one video object(VOB) 83 and stores the data used to display a plurality of menuscreens. In contrast, a video object set (VTSTT_VOBS) 82 for title setsis usually composed of a plurality of video objects (VOB) 83.

[0097] When the aforesaid video of a boxing match is taken as example, avideo object (VOB) 83 corresponds to the video data of each match playedby boxer X. Specifying a particular video object (VOB) 83 enables, forexample., boxer X's eleventh match for a world championship to bereproduced on a video. The video object set (VTSM_VOBS) 95 for a menu ofthe video title sets 72 contains the menu data for the matches played byboxer X. According to the presentation of the menu, a particular match,for example, boxer X's eleventh match for a world championship, can bespecified. In the case of a usual single story movie, one video object(VOB) 83 corresponds to one video object set (VOBS) 82. One video streamis completed with one video object set (VOBS) 82. In the case of acollection of animated cartoons or an omnibus movie, a plurality ofvideo streams each corresponding to individual stories are provided in asingle video object set (VOBS) 82. Each video stream is stored in thecorresponding video object 83. Accordingly, the audio stream andsub-picture stream related to the video stream are also completed witheach video object (VOB) 83.

[0098] An identification number (IDN#j) is assigned to a video object(VOB) 83. By the identification number (ID#j), the video object (VOB) 83can be identified. A video object (VOB) 83 further comprises one or moresuch cells 84. Although a usual video stream is made up of a pluralityof cells 84, a menu video stream, or a video object (VOB) 83 may becomposed of one cell 84. A cell 84 is likewise assigned anidentification number (C_IDN#j). By the identification number (C_IDN#j),the cell 84 is identified.

[0099] As shown in FIG. 6, each cell 84 is composed of one or more videoobject units (VOBU) 85, normally a plurality of video object units(VOBU) 85. Here, a video object unit (VOBU) 85 is defined as a packtrain having a navigation pack (NAV pack) 86 at its head. Specifically,a video object unit (VOBU) 85 is defined as a set of all the packsrecorded, starting at a navigation pack (NAV pack) 86 to immediately infront of the next navigation pack. The reproducing time of the videoobject unit (VOBU) 85 corresponds to the reproducing time of the videodata made up of one or more GOP (Group of Pictures) contained in thevideo object unit (VOBU) 85 as shown in FIG. 6. The maximum reproducingtime is determined to be 0.4 or more second and less than one second. InMPEG, one GOP is defined as compressed image data which corresponds toabout 15 frames to be played back for, usually, 0.5 seconds.

[0100] In the case where the video data includes a video object unit asillustrated in FIG. 6, GOPs each composed of a video pack (V pack) 87, asub-picture pack (SP pack) 90, an audio pack (A pack) 91 and a computerdata pack (C pack) 88, all complying to the MPEG standards, arearranged, producing a vide data stream. Regardless of the number ofGOPs, a video object (VOBU) 83 is determined based on the time requiredfor producing a GOP. In the video object (VOBU) 83 has a navigation pack(NV) pack 86 arranged at its head. Any reproduced data, whether audiodata, sub-picture data, or audio/sub-picture data, consists of one morevideo object units. Thus, even if a video object unit is composed ofonly audio packs only, these audio packs 91 will be reproduced withinthe time for reproducing the video object unit. The procedure ofreproducing these packs will be explained later in detail, along withthe procedure of reproducing the navigation pack (NV pack) 86.

[0101] The procedure for reproducing these packs, together with thenavigation pack 86, will be explained in detail later.

[0102] The video manager 71 will be explained with reference to FIG. 5.The video management information 75 placed at the head of the videomanager 71 contains the information used to search for titles and theinformation used to manage the video title sets (VTS) 72 such as theinformation used for reproduction of a video manager menu. The videomanagement information 75 contains at least three tables 78, 79, 80 inthe order shown in FIG. 5. Each of these tables 78, 79, 80 is alignedwith the boundaries between logical sectors. A first table 78, a videomanger information management table (VMGI_MAT) 78 is a mandatory table,in which the size of the video manager 71, the starting address of eachpiece of the information in the video manger 71, and the attributeinformation about the video object set (VMGM_VOBS) 76 for a videomanager menu are written.

[0103] Written in a second table of the video manager 71, a title searchpointer table 79 (TT_SRPT), is an entry program chain (EPGC) of thevideo titles (VTS) 72 contained in the optical disk 10 that areselectable according to the entry of a title number from the key/displaysection 4 on the apparatus.

[0104] Here, a program chain 87 is a set of programs 89 that reproducethe story of a title as shown in FIG. 7. Continuous reproduction of aprogram chain 87 completes the movie of a title. Therefore, the user canstart to see the movie from a particular scene of the movie byspecifying the program 89.

[0105] In a third table of the video manager 71, a video title setattribution table (VTS_ATRT) 80, the attribute information determined inthe video title set 72 in the volume of the optical disk 10 is written.Specifically, in this table 72, the following items are written asattribute information: the number of video title sets, video title setnumbers, video attributes, such as a video data compression scheme,audio stream attributes, such as an audio coding mode, and sub-pictureattributes, such as the type of sup-picture display.

[0106] The contents of the video manager information management table(VMGI_MAT) 78 and the title search pointer table (TT_SRPT) 79 will beexplained in detail with reference to FIGS. 8, 9, 10, and 11.

[0107] As shown in FIG. 8, written in the video manager informationmanagement table (VMGI_MAT) 78 are a video manager identifier (VMG_ID),the size of video manager information (VMGI_SZ) in logical blocks (onelogical block contains 2048 bytes as mentioned above), the versionnumber (VERN) of the optical disk 10 complying with the digitalversatile disk video specification, and the category of video manager 71(VMG_CAT).

[0108] In the category of video manager 71 (VMG_CAT), a flag indicatingwhether or not the DVD video directory prohibits copying is written.Further written in the table (VMGI_MAT) are a volume set identifier(VLMS_ID), the number of video title sets (VTS_Ns), the identifier for aperson supplying the data to be recorded on the disk (Provider UniqueID: PVR_ID), a video manager menu video object set start address(VNGM_VOBS_SA), the end address (VMGI_MAT_EA) of a video managerinformation management table (VMGI_MAT) 78, and the start address(TT_SRPT_SA) of a title search pointer table (TT_SRPT) 79. The endaddress of VMG_MAT 78 (VMGI_MAT_EA) and the start address of TT_SRPT(TT_SRPT_SA) 79 are represented by the number of logical blocks,relative to the first logical block.

[0109] Furthermore, in the table 78, the start address (VTS_ATRT_SA) ofthe attribute table (VTS_ATRT) 80 of video title sets (VTS) 72 isrepresented by the number of bytes, relative to the first byte in theVMGI manager table (VMGI_MAT) 71, and the video attribute (VMGM_V_AST)of the video manager menu (VMGM) is written. Further written in thetable 78 are the number of audio streams (VMGM_AST_Ns) in the videomanager menu (VMGM), the attributes of audio streams (VMGM_AST_ATR) inthe video manager menu (VMGM), the number of sub-picture streams(VMGM_SPST_Ns) in the video manager menu (VMGM), and the attributes ofsub-picture streams (VMGM_SPST_ATR) in the video manager menu (VMGM).

[0110] In the title search pointer table (TT_SRPT) 79, as shown in FIG.9, the title search pointer table information (TT_SRPTI) 92 is firstwritten and then as many title search pointers for input numbers 1 to n(n≦99) as are needed are written consecutively. When only thereproducing data for one title, for example, only the video data for onetitle, is stored in the volume of the optical disk, only one titlesearch pointer (TT_SRP) 93 is written in the table (TT_SRPT) 79.

[0111] The title search pointer table information (TT_SRPTI) 92 containsthe number of entry program chains (EN_PGC_Ns) and the end address(TT_SRPT_EA) of the title search pointer 93 as shown in FIG. 10. Theaddress (TT_SRPT_EA) is represented by the number of bytes, relative tothe first byte in the title search pointer table (TT_SRPT) 79.Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 11, each title search pointer (TT_SRP) 93contains the video title set number (VTSN), the program chain number(PGCN), and the start address (VTS_SA) of the video title set 72. Thecontents of the title search pointer (TT_SRP) 93 specifies a video titleset 72 to be reproduced and a program chain (PGC) 87 as well as alocation in which the video title set 72 is to be stored. The startaddress (VTS_SA) of the video title set 72 is represented by the numberof logical blocks in connection with the title set 72 specified by thevideo title set number (VTSN).

[0112] The structure of the logic format of the video title set 72 shownin FIG. 4 will be described with reference to FIG. 12. In each videotitle set (VTS) 72, four items are written in the order shown in FIG.12. Each video title set (VTS) 72 is made up of one or more video titleshaving common attributes. The video title set information (VTSI) 94contains the management information on the video titles, including theinformation on entry search points, the information on playback of videoobject sets 72, the information on playback of title set menus (VTSM),and the attribute information on video object sets 72.

[0113] Each video title set 72 is provided with the backup of the videotitle set information (VTSI_BUP) 97. Between the video title setinformation (VTSI) and the backup of the information (VTSI_BUP) 97, avideo object set for video title set menus (VTSM_VOBS) 95 and a videoobject set for video title set titles (VTSTT_VOBS) 96 are arranged. Bothof the video object sets (VTSM_VOBS and VTSTT_VOBS) 95, 96 have thestructure shown in FIG. 6, as explained earlier.

[0114] The video title set information (VTSI) 94, the backup of theinformation (VTSI_BUP) 97, and the video object set (VTSTT_VOBS) 96 forvideo title set titles are items indispensable to the video title set72. The video object set (VTSM_VOBS) 96 for video title set menus is anoption provided as the need arises.

[0115] The video title set information (VTSI) 94 consists of four tablesas shown in FIG. 12. The four tables are forced to align with theboundaries between logical sectors. The video title set informationmanagement table (VTSI_MAT) 98, a first table, is a mandatory table, inwhich the size of the video title set (VTS) 72, the start addresses ofeach piece of information in the video title set (VTS) 72, and theattributes of the video object sets (VOBS) 96 in the video title set(VTS) 72 are written.

[0116] The video title set direct access pointer table (VTS_DAPT) 99, asecond table, is an optional table provided as the need arises. Writtenin the table 99 are the program chains (PGC) 87 and/or programs (PG) 89contained in the video title set 72 that are selectable according to theentry of a title number from the key/display section 4 of the apparatus.

[0117] The video title set program chain information table (VTS_PGCIT)100, a third table, is a mandatory table, in which the VTS program chaininformation (VTS_PGCI) 104 is written. The video title set time searchmap table (VTS_MAPT) 101, a fourth table, is an optional table providedas the need arises, in which the information on the recording location,for a specific period of time of display, of the video data in eachprogram chain (PGC) 87 in the title set 72 to which the map table(VTS_MAPT) 101 belongs is written.

[0118] Next, the video title information management table (VTSI_MAT) 98and video title set program chain information table (VTSI_PGCIT) 100shown in FIG. 12 will be described with reference to FIGS. 13 to 20.

[0119]FIG. 13 shows the contents of the video title informationmanagement table (VTSI_MAT) 98, in which the video title set identifier(VTS_ID), the size of the video title set 72 (VTS_SZ), the versionnumber of the DVD video specification (VERN), and the video title setcategory (VTS_CAT) are written in that order. Furthermore, in the table(VTSI_MAT) 98, the start address of the video object set (VTSM_VOBS) forVTS menus is expressed by a logical block relative to the first logicalblock in the video title set (VTS) 72. The start address (VTSTT_VOB_SA)of the video object 83 for titles in the video title set (VTS) 72 isexpressed by a logical block (RLBN) relative to the first logical blockin the video title set (VTS) 72.

[0120] Furthermore, in the table (VTSI_MAT) 98, the end address(VTI_MAT_EA) of the video title set information management table(VTI_MAT) 98 is represented by the number of blocks, relative to thefirst byte in the table (VTI_MAT), 98 and the start address of the videotitle set direct access pointer table (VTS_DAPT) 99 is represented bythe number of blocks, relative to the first byte in the video title setinformation (VTSI) 94.

[0121] Still furthermore, in the table (VTSI_MAT) 98, the start address(VTS_PGCIT_SA) of the video title set program chain information table(PGCIT) 100 is expressed by the number of blocks, relative to the firstbyte of the video title set information (VTSI) 94, and the start address(VTS_MAPT_SA) of the time search map (VTS_MAPT) 101 in the video titleset (VTS) 72 is expressed by a logical sector relative to the firstlogical sector in the video title set (VTS) 72. Written in the table(VTSI_MAT) 98 are the video object set (VTSM_VOBS) 95 for the videotitle set menu (VTSM) in the video title set (VTS) 72, the videoattributes (VTS_V_ATR) of the video object set (VTST_VOBS) 96 for thetitles (VTSTT) in the video title set 72, and the number of audiostreams (VTS_AST_Ns) in the video object set (VTSTT_VOBS) 82 for thetitles (VTSTT) for the video title sets 72. Here, the video attributes(VTS_V_ATR) include a video compression mode, a frame rate of the TVsystem, and an aspect ratio for displaying an image on a display unit.

[0122] Written in the table (VTSI_MAT) 98 are the audio streamattributes (VTS_AST_ATR) of the video object set (VTST_VOBS) for thetitles (VTSTT) in the video title set (VTS). The attributes(VTS_AST_ATR) include an audio encoding mode indicating how audio isencoded, the number of bits used to quantize audio, and the number ofaudio channels.

[0123] Furthermore, written in the table (VTSI_MAT) 98 are the number(VTS_SPST_Ns) of sub-picture streams in the video object set 82 for thetitles (VTSTT) in the video title set (VTS) 72 and the attributes(VTS_SPST_ATR) of each sub-picture stream. The attributes (VTR_SPST_ATR)for each sub-picture stream include a sub-picture coding mode and asub-picture display type.

[0124] Furthermore, in the table (VTSI_MAT) 98, written are the number(VTSM_AST_Ns) of audio streams in the video title set menu (VTSM), theaudio stream attributes (VTSM_AST_ATR), the number (VTSM_SPST_Ns) ofsup-picture streams, and the sup-picture stream attributes(VISM_SPST_ATR).

[0125] The VTS program chain information table (VTS_PGCIT) 100 has astructure as shown in FIG. 14. In the information table (VTS_PGCIT) 100,information on the VTS program chain (VTS_PGC) is written, starting withinformation (VTS_PGCIT_I) 102 on the information table (VTS_PGCIT) 100related to the VTS program chain (VTS_PGC). In the information table(VTS_PGCIT) 100, the information (VTS_PGCIT_I) 102 is followed by asmany VTS_PGCI search pointer (VTS_PGCIT_SRP) 103 used to search for VTSprogram chains (VTS_PGC) as the number (#1 to #n) of VTS program chainsin the information table (VTS_PGCIT). At the end of the table, there areprovided as many pieces of information (VTS_PGCI) 104 on the respectiveVTS program chains (VTS_PGC) as the number (from #1 to #n) of the VTSprogram chains (VTS_PGC).

[0126] The information (VTS_PGCIT_I) 102 in the VTS program chaininformation table (VTS_PGCIT) 100 contains the number (VTS_PGC_Ns) ofVTS program chains (VTS_PGC) as shown in FIG. 15. The end address(VTS_PGCIT_EA) of the table information (VTS_PGCIT_I) 102 is expressedby the number of bytes, relative to the first byte in the informationtable (VTS_PGCIT) 100.

[0127] Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 16, the VTS_PGCIT search pointer(VTS_PGCIT_SRP) 103 contains the attributes (VTS_PGC_CAT) of the programchains (VTS_PGC) in the video title set (VTS) 72 and the start address(VTS_PGCI_SA) of the VTS_PGC information (VTS_PGCI) 104 expressed by thenumber of bytes, relative to the first byte in the VTS_PGC informationtable (VTS_PGCIT) 100. Here, the VTS_PGC attribute (VTS_PGC_CAT) is, forexample, an attribute indicating whether an entry program chain (EntryPGC) is the first one to be reproduced. Usually, an entry program chain(PGC) is written before program chains (PGC) that are not entry programchains (PGC). Generally, program chains (PGC) are reproduced in thedescription order of VTS_PGCIs as shown in FIG. 14.

[0128] The PGC information (VTS_PGCI) 104 in the video title set 72contains four items as shown in FIG. 17. In the PGC information(VTS_PGCI) 104, the program chain general information (PGC_GI) 105 on amandatory item is first arranged, followed by at least three items thatare made mandatory only when there is an video object 83. Specifically,contained as the three items in the PGC information (VTS_PGCI) 104 are aprogram chain program map (PGC_PGMAP) 106, a cell playback informationtable (C_PBIT) 107, and a cell position information table (C_POSIT) 108.

[0129] As shown in FIG. 18, the program chain general information(PGC_GI) 105 contains the category (PGCI_CAT) of the program chain 87,the contents (PGC_CNT) of the program chain (PGC) 87, and the playbacktime of the program chain (PGC). 87 Written in the category of PGC(PGCI_CAT) are whether the PGC can be copied or not and whether theprograms 89 in the PGC are played back continuously or at random. Thecontents of PGC (PGC_CNT) contains the description of the program chainstructure, that is, the number of programs 89, the number of cells 84,and the number of angles in the program chain 87. The playback time ofPGC (PGC_PB_TIME) contains the total playback time of the programs 89 inthe PGC. The playback time is the time required to continuously playback the programs 89 in the PGC, regardless of the playback procedure.

[0130] Furthermore, the program chain general information (PGC_GI) 105contains PGC sub-picture stream control (PGC_SPST_CTL), PGC audio streamcontrol (PGC_AST_CTL), and PGC sub-picture pallet (PGC_SP_PLT). The PGCsub-picture stream control (PGC_SPST_CTL) contains the number ofsub-pictures usable in the PGC 89 and the PGC audio stream control(PGC_AST_CTL) likewise contains the number of audio streams usable inthe PGC 89. The PGC sub-picture palette (PGC_SP_PLT) contains a set of aspecific number of color pallets used in all of the sub-picture streamsin the PGC 89.

[0131] Furthermore, the PGC general information (PGC_GI) 105 containsthe start address (C_PBIT_SA) of the cell playback information table(C_PBIT) and the start address (C_POSIT_SA) of the cell positioninformation table (C_POSIT) 108. Both of the start addresses (C_PBIT_SAand C_POSIT_SA) are represented by the number of logical blocks,relative to the first byte in he VTS_PGC information (VTS_PGCI) 105.

[0132] The program chain program map (PGC_PGMAP) 108 is a map showingthe arrangement of the programs 89 in the PGC 87 of FIG. 19. In the map(PGC_PGMAP) 106, the entry cell numbers (ECELLN), the start cell numbersof the individual programs 89, are written in ascending order as shownin FIGS. 19 and 20. In addition, program numbers are allocated, startingat 1, in the order in which the entry cell numbers are written.Consequently, the first entry number in the map (PGC_PGMAP) 106 must be#1.

[0133] The cell playback information table (C_PBIT) defines the order inwhich the cells 84 in the PGC 87 are played back. In the cell playbackinformation table (C_PBIT) 107, pieces of the cell playback information(C_PBI) are written consecutively as shown in FIG. 21. Basically, cells84 are played back in the order of cell number. The cell playbackinformation (C_PBIT) 108 contains a cell category (C_CAT) as shown inFIG. 22. Written in the cell category (C_CAT) are a cell block modeindicating whether a cell is in the block and if it is in the block,whether the cell is the first one, a cell block type indicating whethera cell 84 is not part of the block or is in an angle block, and an STCdiscontinuity flag indicating whether the system time clock (STC) mustbe set again.

[0134] Further written in the cell category (C_CAT) are a cell playbackmode indicating whether the video object units (VOBU) 85 in the cell 84are played sack continuously or a picture is made still at one videoobject unit (VOBU) 85 to another in the cell 84, and cell navigationcontrol indicating whether the picture is made still after the playbackof the cell or indicating the rest time.

[0135] As shown in FIG. 22, the cell playback information table (C_PBIT)107 contains the cell playback time (C_PBTNM) representing the totalplayback time of the PGC 87. When the PGC 87 has an angle cell block,the playback time of the angle cell number 1 represents the playbacktime of the angle block. Further written in the cell playbackinformation table (C_PBIT) 107 are the start address (C_FVOBU_SA) of thefirst video object unit (VOBS) 85 in the cell 84 expressed by the numberof logical sectors, relative to the first logical sector in the videoobject unit (VOBS) 85 in which the cell 84 is written and the startaddress (C_LVOBU_SA) of the end video object unit (VOBS) 85 in the cell84 expressed by the number of logical sectors, relative to the firstlogical sector in the video object unit (VOBS) 85 in which the cell 84is written.

[0136] The cell position information table (C_POSI) 108 specifies theidentification number (VOB_ID) of the video object (VOB) 85 in the cellused in the PGC 87 and the identification number (Cell_ID) of the cell84. In the cell position information table (C_POSI) 108, pieces of thecell position information (C_POSI) corresponding to the cell numberswritten in the cell playback information table 107 as shown in FIG. 23are written in the same order as in the cell playback information table(C_PBIT) 107. The cell position information (C_POSI) contains theidentification number (C_VOB_IDN) of the video object unit (VOBS) 85 inthe cell 84 and the cell identification number (C_IDN) as shown in FIG.24.

[0137] As explained with reference to FIG. 6, a cell 84 is a set ofvideo object units (VOBU) 85. A video object unit 85 is defined as apack train starting with a navigation (NAV) pack 86. Therefore, thestart address (C_FVOBU_SA) of the first video object unit (VOBU) 85 in acell 84 is the start address of the NAV pack 86. As shown in FIG. 25,the NAV pack 86 consists of a pack header 110, a system header ill, andtwo packets 116, 117 of navigation data; namely, a playback controlinformation (PCI) packet 116 and a data search information (DSI) packet117. As many bytes as shown in FIG. 25 are allocated to the respectivesections so that one pack may contain 2048 bytes corresponding to onelogical sector. The NV pack is provided immediately before the videopack 88 which contains the first data item in the group of pictures(GOP). Even if the object unit 85 contains no video pack 88, the NV pack86 is positioned at the head of the object unit 85, provided that theobject unit 85 contains an audio pack 91 and/or a sub-picture pack 90.Thus, even if object unit 85 contains no video pack, its playback timeis determined on the basis of the time required for playing back a videopack 88, exactly in the same way as in the case where the unit 85contains a video pack 88.

[0138] Here, GOP is defined as a data train constituting a screendetermined in the MPEG standards. In other words, GOP is equivalent tocompressed data which may be expanded into image data representing aplurality of frames of a moving picture. The pack header 110 contains apack starting code, a system clock reference (SCR), and a multiplexrate. The system header 111 contains a bit rate and a stream ID. Thepacket header 112, 114 of each of the PCI packet 116 and DCI packet 117contains a packet starting code, a packet length, and a stream ID asdetermined in the MPEG2.

[0139] As shown in FIG. 26, another video pack 87, audio pack 91sub-picture pack 90 or computer data pack 88 consists of a pack header120, packet header 121, and a packet 122 containing the correspondingdata as in the system layer 24 MPEG 2. Its pack length is determined tobe 2048 bytes. Each of these packs is aligned with the boundariesbetween logical blocks.

[0140] The PCI data (PCI) 113 in the PCI packet 116 is navigation dataused to make a presentation, or to change the contents of the display,in synchronization with the playback of the video data in the VOB unit(VOBU) 85. Specifically, the PCI data (PCI) 113 contains PCI generalinformation (PCI_GI) as information on the entire PCI data 113 change asshown in FIG. 27. The PCI general information (PCI_GI) contains theaddress (NV_PCK_LBN) of the NV pack (NV_PCK) 86 in which the PCI data isrecorded as shown in FIG. 28, the address being expressed in the numberof blocks, relative to the VOBU logical sector in which the PCI data isrecorded. The PCI general information (PCI_GI) contains the category ofVOBU (VOBU_CAT), the start PTS of VOBU 85 (VOBU_SPTS), and the end PTSof VOBU 85 (VOBU_EPTS). Here, the start PTS of VOBU 85 (VOBU_SPTS)indicates the playback start time (start presentation time stamp (SPTS))of the video data in the VOBU 85 containing the PCI data. The playbackstart time is the playback start time of the first picture in the firstGOP in the VOBU 85. Normally, the first picture corresponds to I picture(intra-picture) data in the MPEG standards. The end PTS (VOBU_EPTS) inthe VOBU 85 indicates the playback end time (end presentation time stamp(EPTS)) of the video data in the VOBU 85 containing the PCI data. Theplayback end time is the playback start time of the last picture in thelast GOP in the VOBU 85.

[0141] The DSI data (DSI) 115 in the DSI packet 117 shown in FIG. 25 isthe navigation data used to search for a VOB unit (VOBU) 85. The DSIdata (DSI) 115 contains the DSI general information (DSI_GI), VOBUsearch information (VOBU_SI), and the synchronizing playback information(SYNCI) as shown in FIG. 29.

[0142] The DSI information (DSI_GI) contains information about theentire DSI data 115. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 30, the DSI generalinformation (DSI_GI) contains the system clock reference for the NV pack(NV_PCK_SCR) 86. The system clock reference (NV_PCK_SCR) is stored inthe system time clock (STC) 54A, 58A, 60A or 62A built in each sectionof FIG. 1. On the basis of the STC 54A, 58A, 60A, 62A, video, audio, andsub-picture packs are decoded at the video, audio, and sub-picturedecoders 58, 60, and 62 and the monitor 6 and the speaker 8 reproduceimages and sound, respectively. The DSI general information (DSI_GI)contains the start address (NV_PCK_LBN) of the NV pack (NV_PCK) 86containing the DSI data expressed by the number of logical sectors(RLSN), relative to the first logical sector in the VOB set (VOBS) 82containing the DSI, and the address (VOBU_EA) of the last pack in theVOB unit (VOBU) 85 containing the DSI data expressed by the number oflogical sectors (RLSN), relative to the first logical sector in the VOBunit (VOBU) 85.

[0143] Furthermore, the DSI general information (DSI_GI) contains theend address (VOBU_IP_EA) of the V pack (V_PCK) 88 containing the lastdata item for the first I picture in the VOB unit (VOBU) expressed bythe number of logical sectors (RLSN), relative to the first logicalsector in the VOB unit (VOBU) 85 containing the DSI data, and theidentification number (VOBU_IP_EA) of the VOB 83 containing the DSI andthe identification number (VOBU_C_IDN) of the cell 84 in which the DSIdata is recorded.

[0144] The search information (VOBU_SI) in VOBU 85 contains informationused to identify the first address in a cell 84.

[0145] The synchronizing information (SYNCI) contains addressinformation on the sub-pictures and audio data reproduced insynchronization with the playback start time of the video data in theVOB unit (VOBU) 85 containing the DSI data. Specifically, as shown inFIG. 31, the start address (A_SYNCA) of the target audio pack (A_PCK) isexpressed by the number of logical sectors (RLSN), relative to the NVpack (NV_PCK) 86 in which DSI data 115 is recorded. When there are morethan one audio stream (8 audio streams maximum), as many pieces of thesynchronizing information (SYNCI) as there are audio streams arewritten. Furthermore, the synchronizing information (SYNCI) contains theaddress (SP_SYNCA) of the NV pack (NV_PCK) 86 of the VOB unit (VOBU) 85containing the target audio pack (SP_PCK) 91, the address beingexpressed by the number of logical sectors (RLSN), relative to the NVpack (NV_PCK) 86 in which DSI 115 is recorded. When there are more thanone sub-picture stream (32 sub-picture streams maximum), as many piecesof the synchronizing information (SYNCI) as there are sub-picturestreams are written.

[0146] The pack length of the above pack is adjusted to 2048 bytes (onelogical sector). If the pack length is less than 2048 bytes and when thenumber of bytes necessary for attaining the above value is six bytes orless, the pack length is adjusted by adding stuffing bytes in the packheader, and when the necessary number of bytes is seven bytes or more,the packet length is adjusted by adding one byte of stuffing byte andadding a padding packet corresponding to the necessary number of bytesto the packet.

[0147] The pack header is constructed by a 4-byte pack start code(000001BAh), 6-byte SCR (System Clock Reference, system time standardreference value), 3-byte multiplexing rate (MUX rate; 0468A8h), and1-byte to 7-byte stuffing bytes (000h). The packet is constructed by2034 bytes as a reference and padding packet (effective data 00h whichhas no significance as data is recorded in the unit of byte) for packlength adjustment is inserted into the packet as required.

[0148] That is, as shown in FIG. 32, in a case where the length of dataconstructing the packet is 2034 bytes to 2028 bytes, one or morestuffing bytes corresponding to a deficient number of byte or bytes areadded to (inserted into) the pack header.

[0149] Further, as shown in FIG. 33, in a case where the length of dataconstructing the packet is 2027 bytes or less, a padding packet of bytesof a number corresponding to the deficient number is added.

[0150] For example, a case wherein video data is formed in a pack formis explained.

[0151] That is, as shown in FIG. 34, in a case where video data having adata length of 2015 bytes is formed in a pack form, the reference bytenumber (2034 bytes) of one packet is compared with a byte number (2021bytes) obtained by adding six bytes of the packet header to the numberof bytes (2015 bytes) of the video data, and as the result ofcomparison, it is determined that a deficient number of bytes is 13 andit is necessary to add a padding packet of 13 bytes, and a pack of 2048bytes is formed by a normal 14-byte pack header including a 1-bytestuffing byte and a packet of 2034 bytes constructed by adding a 13-bytepadding packet to the video packet of 2021 bytes.

[0152] Further, as shown in FIG. 35, in a case where video data having adata length of 2025 bytes is formed in a pack form, the reference bytenumber (2034 bytes) of one packet is compared with a byte number (2031bytes) obtained by adding six bytes of the packet header to the numberof bytes (2025 bytes) of the video data, and as the result ofcomparison, it is determined that a deficient number of bytes is 3 andit is necessary to add 3-byte stuffing bytes, and a pack of 2048 bytesis formed by a 17-byte pack header including 3-byte stuffing bytes inaddition to a 1-byte stuffing byte and a video packet of 2031 bytes.

[0153] Next, the above pack is explained in detail.

[0154] As shown in FIG. 25, an NV pack 86 is arranged just before avideo pack containing head data of one GOP and constructed by a 14-bytepack header 110, 24-byte system header 111, PCI packet 116 of 980 bytesor less, and DSI packet 117 of 1024 bytes or less. The PCI packet 116 isconstructed by a 6-byte packet header 112, 1-byte sub-stream ID 118, anda data area 113 in which 979-byte PCI data can be stored, and the DSIpacket 117 is constructed by a 6-byte packet header 114, 1-bytesub-stream ID 119 and a data area 115 in which 1017-byte DSI data can bestored.

[0155] As described before, the pack header 110 is constructed by a4-byte pack start code (000001BAh), 6-byte SCR (System Clock Reference,system time standard reference value), 3-byte multiplexing rate (MUXrate; 0468A8h), and 1-byte to 7-byte stuffing bytes (00h).

[0156] The system header 111 is constructed by a 4-byte system headerstart code (000001BBh), 2-byte header length and the like.

[0157] The packet headers 112, 114 are each constructed by a 3-bytepacket start code (000001h), 1-byte stream ID (10111111b: private stream2), 2-byte PES (Packetized Elementary Stream) packet length.

[0158] A code (00000000b) indicating the PCI stream is given to thesub-stream ID 118.

[0159] A code (00000001b) indicating the DSI stream is given to thesub-stream ID 119.

[0160] As shown in FIGS. 36A, 36B, in a video pack 87, one pack isconstructed by a 14-byte pack header 120 and a video packet which isconstructed by a 9-byte packet header 121 and a data area 122 in whichvideo data of up to 2025 bytes can be stored or a video packetconstructed by a 19-byte packet header 121 and a data area 122 in whichvideo data of up to 2015 bytes can be stored. The pack header 120 hasthe same structure as that used in the case of the NV pack 86.

[0161] If the packet header 121 is a 9-byte packet header, it isconstructed by a 3-byte packet start code (000001h), 1-byte stream ID(11100000b: MPEG video stream), 2-byte PES (Packetized ElementaryStream) packet length, and 3-byte data relating to PES.

[0162] If the packet header 121 is a 19-byte packet header, it containsa 5-byte PTS (Presentation Time Stamp; time management information forreproduction output) and a 5-byte DTS (Decoding Time Stamp; timemanagement information for decoding) in addition to the above 9 bytes.The PTS and DTS are described only in a video packet containing headdata of I picture of the video stream.

[0163] If an audio pack 91 is compressed coding data which conforms tothe Dolby AC3, as shown in FIG. 37A, one pack is constructed by a14-byte pack header 120 and an audio packet which is constructed by a14-byte packet header 121, 1-byte sub-stream ID 131, a frame number 132of one-byte configuration indicating the number of audio frames in thepacket data, a first access unit pointer 133 of two-byte configurationindicating the head position of the first audio frame in the packetdata, and a data area 134 in which audio data of up to 2016 bytes can bestored. The pack header 120 has the same structure as that used in thecase of the NV pack 86. If no PTS is contained in the packet header 121,the packet header 121 is constructed by 9 bytes and the capacity of thedata area 134 in which audio data can be stored is expanded to 2021bytes.

[0164] If the audio pack 91 is linear PCM coding data, as shown in FIG.37B, one pack is constructed by a 14-byte pack header 120 and an audiopacket which is constructed by a 14-byte packet header 121, 1-bytesub-stream ID 131, a frame number 132 of one-byte configurationindicating the number of audio frames in the packet data, a first accessunit pointer 133 of two-byte configuration indicating the head positionof the audio frame in the packet data, audio data information 135 ofthree-byte configuration in which information of audio data in thepacket data is described, and a data area 134 in which audio data of upto 2013 bytes can be stored. The pack header 120 has the same structureas that used in the case of the NV pack 86. If no PTS is contained inthe packet header 121, the packet header 121 is constructed by 9 bytesand the capacity of the data area 134 in which audio data can be storedis expanded to 2018 bytes.

[0165] As information of audio data of the audio data information, aframe number, a processing unit indicating that one data length is16-bit length, 20-bit length or 24-bit length, a sampling frequency andthe like are described.

[0166] The packet header 121 is constructed by a 3-byte packet startcode (000001h), 1-byte stream ID (10111101b: private stream 1), 2-bytePES (Packetized Elementary Stream) packet length, 3-byte content of PES,and 5-byte PTS (Presentation Time Stamp; time management information forreproduction output).

[0167] In the sub-stream ID 131 given in a case where audio data iscompressed coding data which conforms to the Dolby AC3, a code(10000xxxb : xxx is a stream number) indicating an AC3 stream isprovided.

[0168] In the sub-stream ID 131 given in a case where audio data islinear PCM, a code (10100xxxb : xxx is a stream number) indicating alinear PCM stream is provided.

[0169] One frame of the audio data is constructed by, for example,772-byte audio data containing a 4-byte frame header and four bytes onthe right and left sides of “0” to “191”.

[0170] As shown in FIG. 38, in a sub-picture pack 90, one pack isconstructed by a 14-byte pack header 120 and a sub-picture packet whichis constructed by a 14-byte packet header 121, 1-byte sub-stream ID 141and a data area 142 in which sub-picture data of up to 2019 bytes can bestored. If no PTS is contained in the packet header 121, the packetheader 121 is constructed by 9 bytes and the capacity of the data area142 in which sub-picture data can be stored is expanded to 2024 bytes.The pack header 120 has the same structure as that used in the case ofthe NV pack 86.

[0171] A code (001xxxxxb : xxxxx stream number) indicating a sub-picturestream-is given to the sub-stream ID 141.

[0172] The packet header 121 is constructed by a 3-byte packet startcode (000001h), 1-byte stream ID (10111101b : private stream 1), 2-bytePES (Packetized Elementary Stream) packet length, 3-byte data relatingto PES, and 5-byte PTS (Presentation Time Stamp; time managementinformation for reproduction output). The PTS is described only in asub-picture packet containing head data of each sub-picture unit.

[0173] As shown in FIG. 39, in a computer data pack 88, one pack isconstructed by a 14-byte pack header 120 and a packet which isconstructed by a 14-byte packet header 121, 1-byte sub-stream ID 151,2-byte computer environmental data 152 and a data area 153 in whichcomputer data of up to 2017 bytes can be stored. If no PTS is containedin the packet header 121, the packet header 121 is constructed by 9bytes and the capacity of the data area 153 in which computer data canbe stored is expanded to 2022 bytes. The pack header 120 has the samestructure as that used in the case of the NV pack 86.

[0174] As the computer environmental data 152, an application CPU andapplication OS are described. For example, as shown in FIG. 40, fourdifferent classifications can be selected, and if the application CPU is“CPU1” and the application OS is “OS1”, “0110(h)” is described, if theapplication CPU is “CPU1” and the application OS is “OS2”, “0111(h)” isdescribed, if the application CPU is “CPU2” and the application OS is“OS3”, “1002(h)” is described, and if the application CPU is “CPU1” andthe application OS is “OS3”, “0102(h)” is described.

[0175] A code (11000000b) indicating a computer stream is given to thesub-stream ID.

[0176] The packet header 121 is constructed by a 3-byte packet startcode (000001h), 1-byte stream ID (10111101b : private stream 1), 2-bytePES (Packetized Elementary Stream) packet length, 3-byte data relatingto PES, and 5-byte PTS (Presentation Time Stamp; time managementinformation for reproduction output). The PTS is described only in acomputer data packet containing head data of each computer data stream.

[0177] In an SCR described in each of the above packs, the value of ahead pack for each video title set is set to “0” and increased in anascending order according to the order of recording of data into theoptical disk 10.

[0178] As shown in FIG. 41, the stream ID described in the packet header121 of each pack indicates the program stream map in the case of“10111100”, the private stream 1 in the case of “10111101”, the paddingstream (dummy data) in the case of “10111110”, the private stream 2 inthe case of “10111111”, the MPEG audio stream (xxxxx; stream number) inthe case of “110xxxxx”, the MPEG video stream (xxxx; stream number) inthe case of “1110xxxx”, the entitlement (permission) control message inthe case of “11110000”, the entitlement (permission) management messagein the case of “111110010”, the DSM control command in the case of“11110010”, and the program stream directory in the case of “11111111”.

[0179] The sub-stream IDs 131, 141, 151 respectively described in thepacks of the audio pack 91, sub-picture pack 90, computer data pack 88correspond to the private stream 1, and as shown in FIG. 42, the streamID indicates the linear PCM audio stream in the case of “10100xxx” inwhich “xxx” indicates the stream number, indicates the sub-picturestream in the case of “001xxxxx” in which “xxxxx” indicates the streamnumber, indicates the computer data stream in the case of “11000000”,and indicates the Dolby AC3 audio stream in the case of “10000xxx” inwhich “xxx” indicates the stream number.

[0180] The sub-stream IDs 118, 119 respectively described in the PCIpacket and DSI packet in the NV pack 87 correspond to the private stream2, and as shown in FIG. 43, the sub-stream ID indicates the PCI streamin the case of “00000000”, and indicates the DSI stream in the case of“00000001”.

[0181] Next, a concrete example of the structure of the pack 91 oflinear audio data is explained with reference to FIG. 44.

[0182] As the stream ID in the packet header 121, “10111101” indicatingthe private stream 1 is described, as the sub-stream ID 131 in thepacket header 121, “10100011” indicating the linear PCM audio stream isdescribed and “3” is described as the stream number thereof, and as thefirst access unit pointer 133, “01DB(h)” is described. In the data area134 of the packet, remaining data (472 bytes) in the preceding frame andtwo frame data items (772-byte configuration for one frame) are stored.

[0183] Next, a concrete example of the structure of the pack 88 ofcomputer data is explained with reference to FIG. 45.

[0184] As the stream ID in the packet header 121, “10111101” indicatingthe private stream 1 is described, as the sub-stream ID 151, “11000000”indicating the computer data stream is described, and as the computerenvironmental data 152, “0111(h)” indicating that the application CPU is“CPU1” and the application OS is “OS2” is described. In the data area153 of the packet, computer data is stored.

[0185] Next, a concrete example of the structure of the pack 90 ofsub-picture data is explained with reference to FIG. 46.

[0186] As the stream ID in the packet header 121, “10111101” indicatingthe private stream 1 is described, as the sub-stream ID-141, “00100101”indicating the sub-picture stream is described and “5” is described asthe stream number thereof. In the data area 142 of the packet,sub-picture data of up to 2019 bytes is stored.

[0187] The system processor section 54 includes a packet transferprocessing section 200 for determining the classification of the packetand transferring data in the packet to each decoder. As shown in FIG.47, the packet transfer processing section 200 includes a memoryinterface section (memory I/F section) 201, stuffing length detectingsection 202, pack header end address calculating section 203, packclassification judgment section 204, packet data transfer controlsection 205 and decoder interface section (decoder I/F section) 206.

[0188] The memory I/F section 201 outputs pack data from the data RAMsection 56 to the stuffing length detecting section 202, packclassification judgment section 204, packet data transfer controlsection 205 and decoder I/F section 206 via a data bus.

[0189] The stuffing length detecting section 202 detects the number ofbytes of the stuffing length in the pack header 120 in pack datasupplied from the memory I/F section 201 and the result of detection isoutput to the pack header end address calculating section 203.

[0190] The pack header end address calculating section 203 calculates apack header end address based on the stuffing length supplied from thestuffing length detecting section 202 and the result of calculation isoutput to the pack classification judgment section 204 and packet datatransfer control section 205.

[0191] The pack classification judgment section 204 determines one ofthe video pack 87, audio pack 91, sub-picture pack 90, NV pack 86 andcomputer data pack 88 based on the content of 4-byte data which comesafter an address included in pack data supplied from the memory I/Fsection 201 according to the pack header end address supplied from thepack header end address calculating section 203 and the result ofdetermination is output to the packet data transfer control section 205.

[0192] When a 1-byte stream ID indicating the private stream 2 issupplied, the NV pack 86 is identified. When a stream ID indicating avideo stream is supplied, the video pack 87 is identified. When a 1-bytestream ID indicating a private stream 1 is supplied, the audio pack 81,the sub-picture pack 90 or the computer data pack 88 is identified.

[0193] When the audio pack 91, sub-picture pack 90 or computer data pack88 is determined, the Dolby AC3 audio stream, linear audio stream,sub-picture stream or computer data stream is determined according tothe sub-stream ID 131, 141, or 151 which follows the packet header 121.

[0194] For example, as shown in FIG. 42, the linear audio stream isdetermined in the case of “10100xxx” (xxx; stream number), the Dolby AC3audio stream is determined in the case of “10000xxx” (xxx; streamnumber), the sub-picture stream is determined in the case of “001xxxxx”(xxxxx; stream number), and the computer data stream is determined inthe case of “11000000”.

[0195] The packet data transfer control section 205 determines thetransfer destination and packet start address according to the packheader end address supplied from the pack header end address calculatingsection 203 and the result of judgment of pack classification suppliedfrom the pack classification judgment section 204 and determines thepacket length in the packet header 121 of the supplied pack data.Further, the packet data transfer control section 205 supplies a signalindicating the transfer destination as a transfer control signal to thedecoder I/F section 206 and the packet end address based on the packetstart address is supplied to the memory I/F section 201.

[0196] The decoder I/F section 206 outputs video data, audio data,sub-picture data to corresponding decoder sections 58, 60, 62 as packetdata containing the packet header 121 supplied from the memory I/Fsection 201 to the packet data transfer control section 205 in responseto a transfer control signal supplied from the packet data transfercontrol section 205 and outputs navigation data and computer data aspacket data to the data RAM 56.

[0197] Next, the operation of reproducing movie data from the opticaldisk 10 having the logic format shown in FIGS. 4 to 24 is explained withreference to FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, arrows indicated by solid lines betweenthe blocks indicate data buses and arrows indicated by broken linesindicate control buses.

[0198] In the optical disk device shown in FIG. 1, when the power supplyis turned ON, the system CPU section 50 reads out an initial operationprogram from the system ROM and RAM 52 and operates the disk drivesection 30. Therefore, the disk drive section 30 starts the readoutoperation for the lead-in area 27 and then the readout operation iseffected for the volume and file structure area 70 which follows thelead-in area 27 and defines the volume and file structure in conformityto ISO-9660 or the like. The CPU section 50 supplies a read instructionto the disk drive section 30 to read out data from the volume and filestructure area 70 recorded in a preset position of the optical disk 10set in the disk drive section 30, reads out the content of the volumeand file structure area 70 and temporarily stores the readout contentinto the data RAM section 56 via the system processor section 54. Thesystem CPU section 50 extracts management information as informationnecessary for the management and information of the recording position,recording capacity, size and the like of each file by use of a passtable and directory record stored in the data RAM section 56, transfersthe same to a preset location of the system ROM & RAM 52 and stores thesame therein.

[0199] Next, the system CPU section 50 acquires the video manager 71constructed by a plurality of files starting from the file number “0”from the system ROM & RAM section 52 by referring to information of therecording position and recording capacity of each file. That is, thesystem CPU section 50 supplies a read instruction to the disk drivesection 30 by referring to information of the recording position andrecording capacity of each file acquired from the system ROM & RAMsection 52, acquires the position and size of a plurality of filesconstructing the video manager 71 lying on the route directory, readsout the video manager 71, and stores the same into the data RAM section56 via the system processor section 54. The video manager informationmanagement table (VMGI_MAT) 78 which is the first table of the videomanager 71 is searched. A start address (VMGM_VOBS_SA) of the videoobject set (VMGM_VOBS) 76 for the video manager menu (VMGM) is acquiredby the searching operation and the video object set (VMGM_VOBS) 76 isreproduced. The operation of reproducing the video object set(VMGM_VOBS) 76 is the same as the reproducing operation for the videoobject set (VTSM_VOBS) for the title in the video title set (VTS), andtherefore, explanation for the reproducing procedure is omitted. Whenthe language is set by use of the video object set (VMGM_VOBS) 76 orwhen no video manager menu (VMGM) is present, the video managerinformation management table (VMGI_MAT) is searched to search for thestart address (TT_SRPT_SA) of the title set search pointer table(TT_SRPT) 79.

[0200] By the searching operation, the title set search pointer table(TT_SRPT) 79 is transferred to a preset location of the system ROM & RAMsection 52 and stored therein. Next, the system CPU section 50 acquiresa last address of the title search pointer table (TT_SRPT) 79 from thetitle search pointer table information (TSPTI) 92 and acquires a startaddress (VTS_SA) of the video title set, program chain number (PGCN) andvideo title set number (VTSN) corresponding to an entry number from thetitle search pointer (TT_SRP) 93 corresponding to the entry number fromthe key operation/display section 4. When only one title set is present,one title search pointer (TT_SRP) 93 is searched irrespective whetherthe entry number from the key operation/display section 4 is present ornot and the start address (VTS_SA) of the title set is acquired. Thesystem CPU section 50 acquires an object title set based on the startaddress (VTS_SA) of the title set.

[0201] The system CPU section 50 acquires the stream number of video,audio, sub-picture for video manager menu and attribute informationitems described in the information management table (VMGI_MAT) 78 of thevideo manager information (VMGI) 75 and sets parameters for reproductionof video manager menu in the video recorder section 58, audio recordersection 60 and sub-picture decoder section 62 based on the attributeinformation.

[0202] Next, as shown in FIG. 12, the video title set information (VTSI)94 of the title set is acquired from the start address (VTS_SA) of thevideo title set 72 shown in FIG. 11. The end address (VTI_MAT_EA) of thevideo title set information management table (VTSI_MAT) 98 shown in FIG.13 is acquired from the management table (VTSI_MAT) 98 of video titleset information of the video title set information (VTSI) 94 andrespective portions of the reproducing apparatus shown in FIG. 1 are setaccording to the attributes thereof based on the numbers of streams(VTS_AST_Ns, VTS_SPST_Ns) of audio and sub-picture data items andattribute information items (VTS_V_ATR, VTS_A_ATR, VTS_SPST_ATR) ofvideo, audio and sub-picture data items.

[0203] When the menu (VTSM) for the video title set (VTS) is simple instructure, the start address (VTSM_VOB_SA) of the video object set(VTSM_VOB) 95 for mend in the video title set is acquired from the videotitle set information management table (VTSI_MAT) 98 shown in FIG. 13and the menu of the video title set is displayed by the video object set(VTSM_VOB) 95. When the video object set (VTT_VOBS) 96 for the title(VTST) in the title set (VTS) is simply reproduced by referring to themenu without selecting the program chain (PGC), the video object set 96is reproduced from the start address (VTSTT_VOB_SA) shown in FIG. 13.

[0204] When the program chain (PGC) is specified by the keyoperation/display section 4, an object program chain is searched for inthe following procedure. The procedure of searching for the programchain is not limited to the operation of searching for a program chainfor the title in the video title set and the same procedure can be usedfor searching for a program chain for a relatively complicated menuconstructed by program chains. The start address of the program chaininformation table (VTS_PGCIT) 100 in the video title set (VTS) shown inFIG. 13 and described in the management table (VTSI_MAT) 98 of the videotitle set information (VTSI) 94 is acquired and information(VTS_PGCIT_I) 102 of the VTS program chain information table shown inFIG. 14 is fetched. The number of program chains (VTS_PGC_Ns) and theend address (VTS_PGCIT_EA) shown in FIG. 15 are acquired from theinformation (VTS_PGCIT_I) 102.

[0205] When the program chain number is specified by the keyoperation/display section 4, the category of the program chain shown inFIG. 16 from the VTS_PGCIT search pointer (VTS_PGCIT_SRP) 103 shown inFIG. 14 and corresponding to the specified number and the start addressof VTS_PGC information 104 corresponding to the search pointer(VTS_PGCIT_SRP) 103 are acquired. The program chain general information(PGC_GI) shown in FIG. 17 is read out by use of the start address(VTS_PGCI_SA). The category of the program chain (PGC) and reproducingtime (PGC_CAT, PGC_PB_TIME) are acquired by use of the generalinformation (PGC_GI) and the start addresses (C_PBIT_SA, C_POSIT_SA) ofthe cell reproduction information table (C_PBIT) and cell positioninformation table (C_POSIT) 108 described in the general information(PGC_GI) are acquired. The identifier (C_VOB_IDN) of the video objectand the identifier (C_IDN) of the cell as shown in FIG. 24 are acquiredas the cell position information (C_POSI) shown in FIG. 23 by use of thestart address (C_PBIT_SA).

[0206] Further, cell reproduction information (C_PBI) shown in FIG. 21is acquired by use of the start address (C_POSIT_SA), the start address(C_FVOBU_SA) of the first VOBU 85 in the cell shown in FIG. 22 anddescribed in the reproduction information (C_PBI) and the start address(C_LVOBU_SA) of the last VOBU are acquired, and the target cell issearched for. The cell reproduction order is determined by referring tothe map of the program shown in FIG. 19 in the PGC program map(PGC_PGMAP) 106 shown in FIG. 17 to sequentially determine thereproduction cell 84. The thus determined data cells 84 of the programchain are sequentially read out from the video object 144 and input tothe data RAM section 56 via the system processor section 54. The datacell 84 is supplied to the video decoder section 58, audio decodersection 60 and sub-picture decoder section 62 according to thereproduction time information and decoded, converted by the D/A andreproduction processing section 64, and an image is reproduced on themonitor section 6 and a sound is reproduced from the speaker section 8.

[0207] Next, the normal operation of reproducing video data by using thenavigation pack 86 is explained in detail with reference to theflowchart.

[0208] In the normal reproduction of video data, when the normalreproduction is started as shown in FIG. 48, the video managerinformation (VMGI) 75 is searched for by the system CPU section 50 asexplained before after the starting step indicated by the step S11 iseffected and then it is stored into the system ROM/RAM section 52 by thesteps S12. Likewise, the video title set information (VTSI) 94 of thevideo title set (VTS) 72 is fetched based on the video managerinformation (VMGI) 75 and the video title set menu is displayed on themonitor section 6 by use of the video object set (VTSM_VOBS) 95. Basedon the display, the user determines the title set 72 to be reproducedand the reproduction condition as indicated by the step S13. If thedetermined title set 72 is selected by the key operation/display section4, data of the cell reproducing information table (C_PBIT) 107 shown inFIGS. 17, 21, 22 are fetched from the program chain information table(VTS_PGCIT) 100 shown in FIG. 12 in the selected title set 72 by thesystem CPU section 50 as indicated by the step S14 and stored into thesystem ROM/RAM section 52.

[0209] The system CPU section 50 determines the program chain number(VTS_PGC_Ns), angle number (ANGNs), audio stream number and sub-picturestream number for starting the reproduction according to the reproducingcondition input from the key operation/display section 4 by the stepS15. For example, the program chain is determined such that the EleventhWorld Champion Match of Boxing is selected as the title and the Japanesecaption is used as the sub-picture under the English narration. Further,the user may determine a video image which can always provide favorableobservation of the fight between the two boxers as the angle. The thusdetermined sub-picture number and audio stream number are set in theregister 54B of the processor section 54 in the step S16. Likewise, thereproduction start time is set in the system time clock (STC) 54A, 58A,60A, 62A of the system processor section 54, video decoder section 58,audio decoder section 60 and sub-picture decoder section 62. Further,the start address of first VOBU in the cell used as the start addressand the PGC number, that is, cell number are stored in the systemROM/RAM section 52.

[0210] A read command is supplied from the system CPU section 50 to thedisk drive section 30 when the preparation for reading the video titleset is made as shown in the step S17 and a seek process is effected forthe optical disk 10 by the disk drive section 30 based on the receivedstart address. Cells associated with the specified program chain (PGC)are sequentially read out from the optical disk 10 in response to theread command and supplied to the data RAM section 56 via the system CPUsection 50 and system processing section 54. The supplied cell data isstored as a pack into the data RAM section 56 from the navigation pack86 which is the head pack of the video object unit (VOBU) 85 as shown inFIG. 6. After this, the video pack 87, audio pack 91, sub-picture pack90 and computer data pack 88 of the video object unit (VOBU) 85 arerespectively supplied to the video decoder section 58, audio decodersection 60, sub-picture decoder section 62 and data RAM section 56,decoded by the respective decoders and then supplied to the D/A and datareproducing section 64. As a result, a video signal is supplied to themonitor section 6, an audio signal is supplied to the speaker section 8,and display of the video image with the sub-picture is started and voicereproduction is started.

[0211] The content of the computer data pack 88 is stored into the workarea of the data RAM section 56 for the system CPU section 50.

[0212] Then, the system CPU section 50 executes another process by usingprogram data as the computer data or starts another program in thesystem ROM/RAM section 52.

[0213] For example, when Japanese pachisi game is played in the courseof video operation, the simple program for the Japanese pachisi game isnot recorded in the system ROM/RAM section 52 and is read out as thecomputer data as described above.

[0214] Further, by causing the program to be read out as the computerdata, a preset program stored in the system ROM/RAM section 52 isstarted.

[0215] If an interruption from the key operation/display section 4occurs during the reproduction of video and audio signals, key dataobtained at this time is stored into the system RAM/ROM section 52. Ifno key data is obtained, whether an interruption of the end ofreproduction from the drive section is present or not is checked. If theinterruption of the end of reproduction is not present, a standby statefor transfer of the navigation pack 86 is set. If transfer of thenavigation pack 86 is completed, the logical sector number (NV_PCK_LSN)in the navigation pack 86 is stored into the system RAM/ROM section 52as the present logical block number (NOWLBN).

[0216] When transfer of the NV pack 86 is completed, whether it is thelast NV pack 86 in the cell or not is checked. That is, whether it isthe last navigation pack 86 in the cell 84 or not is checked. Thechecking operation is effected by comparing the start address(C_LVOBU_SA) of C_LVOBU of the cell reproduction information table(C_PBI) 107 shown in FIG. 22 with the address (V_PCK_LBN) of thenavigation pack 86. If the NV pack 86 is the last one in the cell,whether a change of the angle is made or not is checked. The change ofangle is determined based on whether or not a change of angle is enteredfrom the key operation/display section 4 to the system CPU section 50.If no change of angle is made, whether or not the cell is the last cellof the program chain (PGC) to which the cell 84 belongs is checked. Thechecking operation is effected based on whether or not the cell 84 shownin FIGS. 17 and 21 is the last cell of the cell reproduction informationtable (C_PBIT) 107. That is, the checking operation is effected based onthe number of cells constituting the program chain and theidentification number of the reproduced cell. If the end of playback hasbeen specified, or if there is no program chain, the end PTS (VOBU_EPTS)contained in the PCI general information (PCI_GI) is referred to in stepS18. When the end PTS (VOBU_EPTS) coincides with the system time clock(STC), the monitor 6 will stop displaying on the screen as shown in stepS19, then the system CPU will supply a data transfer stop command to thedisk drive section 30, which thereby stops the data transfer,terminating the playback operation (step S20).

[0217] Next, the pack transfer process is explained with reference tothe flowchart shown in FIG. 49.

[0218] The system CPU section 50 transfers a read command and thelogical sector address of a to-be-reproduced pack to the disk drivesection 30 (step S31).

[0219] Then, the disk drive section 30 seeks a target address (stepS32).

[0220] The disk drive section 30 corrects an error of data of the targetaddress and transfers main data portion of the logical sector data tothe system processor section 54 (step S33).

[0221] The system processor section 54 stores data of the readoutlogical sector in the data RAM section 56 (step S34).

[0222] The system processor section 54 reads out pack headers 110, 120from the head portion of data of the logical sector stored in the dataRAM section 56 and stores the SCR (system time standard reference value)thereof (step S35).

[0223] At this time, since the head of the logical sector coincides withthe head of the pack data, data can be easily fetched.

[0224] Then, the system processor section 54 compares the PTS thereofwith the SCR of the stored pack, determines a pack corresponding to theSCR which has reached the PTS, that is, a to-be-reproduced pack, readsout the determined pack data from the data RAM section 56, determinesthe classification of data by the packet transfer processing section200, and transfers data to the decoder section 58, 60, 62 or data RAMsection 56 according to the determined classification (step S36).

[0225] The decoder sections 58, 60, 62 decode data according to therespective data formats and the set coding system and supplies thedecoded data to the D/A & reproduction processing section 64. After adigital signal obtained as the result of decoding of video data isconverted into an analog signal by the D/A & reproduction processingsection 64, the signal is subjected to the frame rate processing, aspectprocess, pan-scan process and the like according to the set conditionand then output to the monitor section 6. After a digital signalobtained as the result of decoding of audio data is converted into ananalog signal by the D/A & reproduction processing section 64, thesignal is subjected to the mixing process according to the set conditionby the D/A & reproduction processing section 64 and then output to thespeaker section 8. After the D/A & reproduction processing section 64converts a digital signal obtained as the result of decoding ofsub-picture data into an analog signal, the signal is output to themonitor section 6 (step S37).

[0226] When the data RAM section 56 is supplied with program data ascomputer data, it stores the data together with the computerenvironmental classification indicating the application OS and the CPUclassification and outputs the computer environmental classification anddata thereof to the system CPU section 50.

[0227] The above steps S33 to S37 are repeatedly effected untilreproduction is completed.

[0228] Next, the operation of the packet transfer processing section 200is explained.

[0229] Pack data read out from the data RAM section 56 is supplied tothe stuffing length detecting section 202, pack classification judgmentsection 204, packet data transfer control section 205 and decoder I/Fsection 206 via the memory I/F section 201 (step S41).

[0230] Then, the stuffing length is detected by the stuffing lengthdetecting section 202 and data indicating the stuffing length is outputto the pack header end address calculating section 203 (step S42).

[0231] The pack header end address calculating section 203 calculatesthe pack header end address based on the supplied stuffing length andthe pack header end address is supplied to the pack classificationjudgment section 204 and packet data transfer control section 205 (stepS43).

[0232] The pack classification judgment section 204 determines the NVpack 86, video pack 87, Dolby AC3 audio pack 91, linear PCM audio pack91, sub-picture pack 90, or computer data pack 88 based on the contentof 4-byte to 6-byte data supplied after the pack header end addressaccording to the pack header end address and the result of determinationis supplied to the packet data transfer control section 205 (step S44).

[0233] That is, when a 1-byte stream ID indicating the private stream 2is supplied, the NV pack 786 is identified; when a stream ID indicatinga video stream is supplied, the video pack 87 is identified; and when a1-byte stream ID indicating a private stream 1 is supplied, the audiopack 81 of the Dolby AC3, the audio pack 91 of the linear PCM, the audiopack 91, the sub-picture pack 90, or the computer data pack 88 isidentified.

[0234] In a case where the stream ID is the private stream 1, the linearPCM audio pack is determined if the sub-stream ID (131, 141, 151)following the packet header 121 is “10100xxx”, and the stream number isdetermined by “xxx”.

[0235] In a case where the stream ID is the private stream 1, the DolbyAC3 audio pack is determined if the sub-stream ID (131, 141, 151)following the packet header 121 is “10000xxx”, and the stream number isdetermined by “xxx”.

[0236] In a case where the stream ID is the private stream 1, thesub-picture stream is determined if the sub-stream ID (131, 141, 151)following the packet header 121 is “001xxxxx”, and the stream number isdetermined by “xxxxx”.

[0237] In a case where the stream ID is the private stream 1, thecomputer data stream is determined if the sub-stream ID (131, 141, 151)following the packet header 121 is “11000000”.

[0238] When the linear PCM audio pack 91 or Dolby AC3 audio pack 91 isdetermined, an offset byte number indicating the head position of thefirst frame is determined by the 2-byte first access unit pointer 133following the frame header number 132 which is set after the sub-streamID 131.

[0239] Then, the packet data transfer control section 205 determines thetransfer destination and packet start address according to the suppliedresult of determination of the pack classification, pack header endaddress and first access unit pointer 133 and determines the packetlength in the packet header 121 of the supplied pack data. As a result,the packet data transfer control section 205 supplies a signalindicating the transfer destination as a transfer control signal to thedecoder I/F section 206 and the packet end address based on the packetstart address is supplied to the memory I/F section 201 (step S45).

[0240] Thus, substantially effective data is supplied from the memoryI/F section 201 to the decoder I/F section 206 via the data bus, andthen, transferred to the decoder 58, 60, 62 or data RAM section 56 asthe transfer destination corresponding to the classification (step S46).

[0241] That is, the packet data of video data is transferred to thedecoder 58, the packet data of audio data is transferred to the decoder60, the packet data of sub-picture data is transferred to the decoder62, and the packet data of computer data is transferred to the date RAMsection 56.

[0242] In this case, since the pack data has a constant length and thestorage state in the data RAM section 56 is made uniform, that is, thestart addresses are set at regular intervals, the heads of the pack dataitems in the data RAM section 56 are always stored at the addresses setat regular intervals, and therefore, the management of the pack data canbe attained only by managing the pack number without managing theaddress.

[0243] In a case where data is DSI data and PCI data as NV dataindicating the reproduction position of video data, the NV data is nottransferred to the decoder in the process of determination of theclassification of data, and the NV data is stored in the data RAMsection 56. The NV data is referred to by the system CPU section 50 whenrequired and used to reproduce video data in a special way. At thistime, the PCI data and DSI data are identified by the sub-stream IDattached thereto.

[0244] Further, when reproduction of one cell is completed, cellinformation to be next reproduced is acquired from cell reproductionorder information in the program chain data and the reproducing processis effected in the same manner as described above.

[0245] Next, the video data in the logic formats shown in FIGS. 4 to 31,a method of recording data on the optical disk 10 to reproduce the videodata, and a recording system to which the recording method is appliedwill be explained with reference to FIGS. 50 to 55.

[0246]FIG. 50 shows an encoder system that creates a video file of atitle set 84 in which the video data is encoded. In the system of FIG.50, for example, a videotape recorder (VTR) 201, an audiotape recorder(ATR) 202, a sub-picture source 203 and a computer data source 204 areused as sources of the main video data, the audio data, the sup-picturedata and computer data. Under the control of a system controller (Syscon) 205, they create the main video data, audio data, and sup-picturedata, which are supplied to a video encoder (VENC) 206, an audio encoder(AENC) 207, a sub-picture encoder (SPENC) 208, and a computer dataencoder (CENC) 209, respectively. Under the control of the systemcontroller (Sys con) 205, these encoders 206, 207, 208, and 209 performA/D conversion of the main video data, audio data, and sup-picture dataand encode them by the respective compression schemes. The encoded mainvideo data, audio data, and sub-picture data (Comp Video, Comp Audio,Comp Sub-pict, Comp Computer) are stored in memories 210, 211, 212, and213. The main video data, audio data, and sub-picture data (Comp Video,Comp Audio, Comp Sub-pict) are outputted to a file formatter (FFMT) 214under the control of the system controller (Sys con) 205, which convertsthem so that they may have a file structure of video data for the systemas explained earlier. Then, under the control of the system controller(Sys con) 205, the setting conditions for each data item and themanagement information including attributes are stored in a memory 216in the form of files.

[0247] Explained next will be a standard flow of an encoding process inthe system controller (Sys con) 205 that creates a file from video data.

[0248] According to the flow of FIG. 51, the main video data and theaudio data are encoded and the encoded main video data and audio data(Comp Video, Comp Audio) are supplied. Specifically, when the encodingprocess is started, as shown in step S50 of FIG. 51, the parametersnecessary for encoding the main video data and audio data are set. Partof the set parameters are stored in the system controller (Sys con) 205and at the same time, are used at the file formatter (FFMT) 214. Asshown in step S51, the main video data is pre-encoded using theparameters and the optimum distribution of the amount of codes iscalculated. Then, on the basis of the code amount distribution obtainedin the pre-encoding, the main video data is encoded as shown in stepS52. At the same time, the audio data is also encoded at step S52. Asshown in step in S53, if necessary, the main video data is partiallyencoded again and the reencoded portion of the main video data isreplaced with the old one. Through the series of steps, the main videodata and audio data are encoded. Furthermore, as shown in steps S54 andS55, the sub-picture data is encoded and the encoded sub-picture data(Comp Sub-pict) is supplied. Namely, the parameters necessary forencoding the sub-picture data is set. As shown in step S54, part of theparameters are stored in the system controller (Sys con) 205 and used inthe file formatter (FFMT) 214. On the basis of the parameters, thesub-picture data is encoded. By the process, the sup-picture data isencoded.

[0249] Furthermore, as shown in steps S56 and S57, the computer data isencoded and the encoded computer data (Comp Computer) is supplied.Namely, the parameters necessary for encoding the computer data is set.As shown in step S56, part of the parameters are stored in the systemcontroller (Sys con) 205 and used in the file formatter (FFMT) 214. Onthe basis of the parameters, the computer data is encoded. By theprocess, the computer data is encoded.

[0250] According to the flow of FIG. 52, the encoded main video data,audio data, sup-picture data, and computer data (Com Video, Com Audio,Comp Sub-pict, Comp Computer) are combined and converted so as to form avideo data title set structure as explained in FIGS. 4 and 12.Specifically, as shown in step S61, a cell is set as the smallest unitof the video data and cell playback information on a cell (C_PBI) iscreated. Then, as shown in step S62, the structure of the cellsconstituting a program chain and the main video, sub-picture, and audioattributes (the information obtained in encoding the respective dataitems are used part of these attributes) are set and the video title setinformation management table information (VTSI_MAT) 98 containinginformation on a program chain and a video title set time search maptable (VTS_MAPT) 101 are created. At this time, as the need arises, avideo title set direct access pointer table (VTS_DAPT) is also created.Then, as shown in step S63, the encoded main video data, audio data,sup-picture data, and computer data (Com Video, Comp Audio, CompSup-pict, Comp Computer) are subdivided into specific packs. An NV pack86 is placed at the head of each VOBU unit so that playback can beeffected in the order of time code of each data item. With the NV packs86 arranged this way, each data cell is positioned so that a videoobject (VOB) may be composed of a plurality of cells as shown in FIG. 6.A set of such video objects is formatted into the title set structure.

[0251] In the flow of FIG. 52, the program chain information (PGI) isobtained in the process of step S62 by using the database in the systemcontroller (Sys con) 205 or entering data again as the need arises.

[0252]FIG. 53 shows a disk formatter system that records on an opticaldisk the title set formatted as described above. In the disk formattersystem of FIG. 53, the memories 220, 222 in which the created title setis stored supply these file data items to a volume formatter (VFMT) 226.In the volume formatter (VFMT) 226 extracts the management informationfrom the title sets 84, 86, produces a video manager 71, and create thelogic data to be recorded on the disk 10 in the arrangement of FIG. 4. Adisk formatter (DFMT) 228 adds error correction data to the logic datacreated at the volume formatter (VFMT) 226, thereby reconverting thelogic data into physical data to be recorded on the disk. A modulator230 converts the physical data created at the disk formatter (DFMT) 228into the recording data to be recorded actually on the disk. Then, arecorder 232 records the modulated recording data on the disk 10.

[0253] A standard flow for creating the aforementioned disk will bedescribed with reference to FIGS. 54 and 55. FIG. 54 shows the flow forcreating the logic data to be recorded on the disk 10. Specifically, asshown in step S80, parameter data items, including the number of videodata files, their arrangement, and the size of each video data file, areset first. Next, in step S81 video manger 71 is generated from theparameters set and the video title set information 94 of each videotitle set 72. In step S82, the video manager 71 and the video tile set71 are arranged in the order mentioned, according to their logic blocknumbers, thereby generating logic data which is to be recorded on thedisk 10.

[0254] Thereafter, the flow for creating the physical data to berecorded on the disk as shown in FIG. 55 is executed. Specifically, asshown in step S83, the logic data is divided into units of a specificnumber of bytes, thereby forming error correction data. Next, as shownin step S84, the logic data divided into units of a specific number ofbytes are combined with the created error correction data to formphysical sectors. Thereafter, as shown in step S85, physical data iscreated by combining physical sectors. In this way, the modulatingprocess based on certain rules is performed on the physical data createdin the flow of FIG. 55, thereby forming the recording data. Thereafter,the recording data is recorded on the disk 10.

[0255] The above-described data structure can be applied not only to acase where the data is recorded on recording mediums, such as opticaldisks, and then the disks are distributed to the users, but also to acommunication system as shown in FIG. 56. Specifically, according to theprocedure shown in FIGS. 50 to 53, an optical disk 10 in which a videomanager 71 and video title set 72 as shown in FIG. 4 may be loaded intoa reproducing unit 300, from whose system CPU section 50 the encodeddata is taken out digitally and transmitted by a modulator/transmitter310 to the users or the cable subscribers by radio or via a cable.Furthermore, the encoding system 320 shown in FIGS. 50 and 53 may createthe data encoded on the provider side, such as a broadcasting stationand the encoded data may be transmitted by the modulator/transmitter 310to the users or the cable subscribers by radio or via a cable. In such acommunication system, the information in the video manager 71 ismodulated at the modulator/transmitter 310 and then supplied to or isdirectly supplied to the users free of charge. When a user is interestedin the title, the modulator/transmitter 310 transmits the title set 72at the user's or subscriber's request by radio or via a cable. Under thecontrol of the video manager 71, the video title set information 94 isfirst transferred and then the title video object 95 in the video titleset reproduced according to the title set information 94 is transferred.At this time, if necessary, the video title set menu video object 95 isalso transmitted. The transferred data is received by areceiver/demodulator 400 on the user side and is processed as encodeddata at the system CPU section 50 of the reproducing unit on the user orsubscriber side of FIG. 1 in the same manner as in the above-describedreproducing process, whereby the video data is reproduced.

[0256] In transferring the video title set 72, the video object sets 95,96 are transferred using the video object unit 85 of FIG. 6 as a unit.At the head of the video object unit 85, an NV pack 86 containing videoplayback and search information is arranged. Furthermore, because the NVpack contains the addresses of the video object units to be reproducedimmediately before and after the video object unit 85 to which the NVpack 86 belongs, even if the video object unit 85 is lost duringtransfer for some reason, the video object can be reproduced reliably onthe user side by requesting the lost video object unit 85 to betransmitted again. Furthermore, even if transfer is not carried out inthe order of playback of video object units, because the system ROM/RAMsection 52 on the user side holds the accurate playback information onprogram chains, the system CPU section 50 can specify the order ofplayback referring to the address data in its NV pack.

[0257] While in the above explanation, the video object unit is a datatrain containing video data, audio data, and sub-picture data, the videoobject unit may be composed of audio packs only or sup-picture packsonly, because the video object unit has only to contain any one of videodata, audio data, sub picture data, and computer data.

[0258] As described above, data is stored in the data area of the diskin the hierarchical structure of program chains, programs, cells andpacks, each pack is constructed by a pack header for identifying thepack and a packet having a data stream recorded therein, and the packetis constructed by a packet header having data indicating at least aprivate stream, data indicating the classification of the privatestream, and packet data corresponding to the classification.

[0259] Thus, a plurality of various classification data items can bedealt with.

[0260] Further, when data to be dealt with is Dolby AC3 audio data orlinear PCM audio data, reproduction started halfway can be smoothlyeffected, and when the data is computer data, the environment in whichthe data can be used can be easily detected.

[0261] In the above embodiment, a case wherein the optical disk ofhigh-density recording type is used as the recording medium isexplained, but this invention can be applied to another recording mediumother than the optical disk, for example, a magnetic disk or anotherrecording medium physically recordable with high density.

[0262] Additional advantages and modifications will readily occur tothose skilled in the art. Therefore, the invention in its broaderaspects is not limited to the specific details, representative devices,and illustrated examples shown and described herein. Accordingly,various modifications may be made without departing from the spirit orscope of the general inventive concept as defined by the appended claimsand their equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. A recording medium comprising: a management areaformed in part of an area; and a data area formed in another area;wherein data is divided into a plurality of program chains and recordedin said data area in a hierarchical structure in which each of theprogram chains is constructed by a plurality of programs, one program isconstructed by a plurality of cells, and one cell is constructed by aplurality of packs, each pack is constructed by a pack header foridentifying the pack and a packet having a data stream recorded therein,and the packet is constructed by a packet header having data indicatingat least a private stream, data indicating the classification of theprivate stream, and packet data corresponding to the classification; andmanagement data for managing the connection between the program chains,programs, cells and packs in said data area is recorded in saidmanagement area.
 2. A recording medium according to claim 1, whereindata indicating the classification of the private stream indicates theclassifications of data to be reproduced in a special way, Dolby AC3audio data, linear audio data, sub-picture data, computer data, JPEGdata, TIFF data, PICT data, photo CD data, bit map data, and XA audiodata.
 3. A recording medium according to claim 2, wherein dataindicating the access position of a head frame in a pack is recorded thedata indicating the classification of the private stream indicates atleast one of linear audio data and Dolby AC3 audio data having data offrame unit recorded therein.
 4. A recording medium according to claim 2,wherein data indicating the access position of a head frame in a pack isrecorded after the data indicating the classification of the privatestream when the data indicating the classification of the private streamindicates at least one of linear audio data and Dolby AC3 audio datahaving data of frame unit recorded therein.
 5. A recording mediumaccording to claim 2, wherein data indicating an application operationsystem and the classification of a computer in which pack data can beused is recorded after the data indicating the classification of theprivate stream when the data indicating the classification of theprivate stream indicates computer data.
 6. A recording mediumcomprising: a management area formed in part of an area; and a data areaformed in another area; wherein a plurality of programs are recorded insaid data area in a hierarchical structure in which one program isconstructed by a plurality of packs, each pack is constructed by a packheader for identifying the pack and a packet having a data streamrecorded therein, and the packet is constructed by a packet headerhaving data indicating at least a private stream, data indicating theclassification of the private stream, and packet data corresponding tothe classification; and management data for managing the connectionbetween the programs and packs in said data area is recorded in saidmanagement area.
 7. A recording medium according to claim 6, whereindata indicating the classification of the private stream indicates theclassifications of data to be reproduced in a special way, Dolby AC3audio data, linear audio data, sub-picture data, computer data, JPEGdata, TIFF data, PICT data, photo CD data, bit map data, and XA audiodata.
 8. A recording medium according to claim 7, wherein dataindicating the access position of a head frame is recorded the dataindicating the classification of the private stream indicates at leastone of linear audio data and Dolby Ac3 audio data having data of frameunit recorded therein.
 9. A recording medium according to claim 7,wherein data indicating the access position of a head frame is recordedafter the data indicating the classification of the private stream whenthe data indicating the classification of the private stream indicatesat least one of linear audio data and Dolby Ac3 audio data having dataof frame unit recorded therein.
 10. A recording medium according toclaim 7, wherein data indicating an application operation system and theclassification of a computer in which pack data can be used is recordedafter the data indicating the classification of the private stream whenthe data indicating the classification of the private stream indicatescomputer data.
 11. A recording method using a recording medium whichincludes a management area formed in part of an area, and a data areaformed in another area and in which data is divided into a plurality ofprogram chains and recorded in said data area in a hierarchicalstructure in which each of the program chains is constructed by aplurality of programs, one program is constructed by a plurality ofcells, and one cell is constructed by a plurality of packs, and eachpack is constructed by a pack header for identifying the pack and apacket having data recorded therein; comprising the steps of: receivingaudio data or sub-picture data; creating a pack by adding a pack headerfor identifying the pack to a packet which includes packet dataconstructed by frame data of part of audio data received, a startaddress of the frame data, a stream number of the audio data and dataindicating the audio data, and a packet header having a packet lengthand data indicating that the packet data is a private stream; creating apack by adding a pack header for identifying the pack to a packet whichincludes packet data constructed by part of sub-picture data received, astream number of the sub-picture data and data indicating thesub-picture data, and a packet header having a packet length and dataindicating that the packet data is a private stream; and recording thecreated pack on the recording medium.
 12. A recording method using arecording medium which includes a management area formed in part of anarea, and a data area formed in another area and in which data isdivided into a plurality of program chains and recorded in said dataarea in a hierarchical structure in which each of the program chains isconstructed by a plurality of programs, one program is constructed by aplurality of cells, and one cell is constructed by a plurality of packs,and each pack is constructed by a pack header for identifying the packand a packet having data recorded therein; comprising the steps of:receiving Dolby AC3 audio data, linear audio data, computer data orsub-picture data; creating a pack by adding a pack header foridentifying the pack to a packet which includes packet data constructedby frame data of part of Dolby AC3 audio data received, a start addressof the frame data, a stream number of the Dolby AC3 audio data and dataindicating the Dolby AC3 audio data, and a packet header having a packetlength and data indicating that the packet data is a private stream;creating a pack by adding a pack header for identifying the pack to apacket which includes packet data constructed by frame data of part oflinear audio data received, a start address of the frame data, a streamnumber of the linear audio data and data indicating the linear audiodata, and a packet header having a packet length and data indicatingthat the packet data is a private stream; creating a pack by adding apack header for identifying the pack to a packet which includes packetdata constructed by part of computer data received, environmental dataof application CPU and application OS of the computer data and dataindicating the computer data, and a packet header having a packet lengthand data indicating that the packet data is a private stream; creating apack by adding a pack header for identifying the pack to a packet whichincludes packet data constructed by part of sub-picture data received, astream number of the sub-picture data and data indicating thesub-picture data, and a packet header having a packet length and dataindicating that the packet data is a private stream; and recording thecreated pack on the recording medium.
 13. A recording method using arecording medium which includes a management area formed in part of anarea, and a data area formed in another area and in which data isdivided into a plurality of program chains and recorded in said dataarea in a hierarchical structure in which each of the program chains isconstructed by a plurality of programs, one program is constructed by aplurality of cells, and one cell is constructed by a plurality of packs,and each pack is constructed by a pack header for identifying the packand a packet having data recorded therein; comprising the steps of:receiving data to be reproduced in a special way, Dolby AC3 audio data,linear audio data, computer data or sub-picture data; creating a pack byadding a pack header for identifying the pack to a packet which includespacket data constructed by part of data to be reproduced in a specialway received, a stream number of the data to be reproduced in a specialway and data indicating the data to be reproduced in a special way, anda packet header having a packet length and data indicating that thepacket data is a private stream; creating a pack by adding a pack headerfor identifying the pack to a packet which includes packet dataconstructed by frame data of part of Dolby AC3 audio data received, astart address of the frame data, a stream number of the Dolby AC3 audiodata and data indicating the Dolby AC3 audio data, and a packet headerhaving a packet length and data indicating that the packet data is aprivate stream; creating a pack by adding a pack header for identifyingthe pack to a packet which includes packet data constructed by framedata of part of linear audio data received, a start address of the framedata, a stream number of the linear audio data and data indicating thelinear audio data, and a packet header having a packet length and dataindicating that the packet data is a private stream; creating a pack byadding a pack header for identifying the pack to a packet which includespacket data constructed by part of computer data received, environmentaldata of application CPU and application OS of the computer data and dataindicating the computer data, and a packet header having a packet lengthand data indicating that the packet data is a private stream; creating apack by adding a pack header for identifying the pack to a packet whichincludes packet data constructed by part of sub-picture data received, astream number of the sub-picture data and data indicating thesub-picture data, and a packet header having a packet length and dataindicating that the packet data is a private stream; and recording thecreated pack on the recording medium.
 14. An apparatus for recordingdata on a recording medium which includes a management area formed inpart of an area, and a data area formed in another area and in whichdata is divided into a plurality of program chains and recorded in thedata area in a hierarchical structure in which each of the programchains is constructed by a plurality of programs, one program isconstructed by a plurality of cells, and one cell is constructed by aplurality of packs, each pack includes a pack header for identifying thepack and a packet having data recorded therein; comprising: receptionmeans for receiving audio data or sub-picture data; first creating meansfor creating a pack by adding a pack header for identifying the pack toa packet which includes packet data constructed by frame data of part ofaudio data received by said reception means, a start address of theframe data, a stream number of the audio data and data indicating theaudio data, and a packet header having a packet length and dataindicating that the packet data is a private stream; second creatingmeans for creating a pack by adding a pack header for identifying thepack to a packet which includes packet data constructed by part ofsub-picture data received by said reception means, a stream number ofthe sub-picture data and data indicating the sub-picture data, and apacket header having a packet length and data indicating that the packetdata is a private stream; and recording means for recording the packcreated by said first and second creating means on the recording medium.15. An apparatus for recording data on a recording medium which includesa management area formed in part of an area, and a data area formed inanother area and in which data is divided into a plurality of programchains and recorded in the data area in a hierarchical structure inwhich each of the program chains is constructed by a plurality ofprograms, one program is constructed by a plurality of cells, and onecell is constructed by a plurality of packs, each pack includes a packheader for identifying the pack and a packet having data recordedtherein; comprising: reception means for receiving Dolby AC3 audio data,linear audio data, computer data or sub-picture data; first creatingmeans for creating a pack by adding a pack header for identifying thepack to a packet which includes packet data constructed by frame data ofpart of Dolby AC3 audio data received by said reception means, a startaddress of the frame data, a stream number of the Dolby AC3 audio dataand data indicating the Dolby AC3 audio data, and a packet header havinga packet length and data indicating that the packet data is a privatestream; second creating means for creating a pack by adding a packheader for identifying the pack to a packet which includes packet dataconstructed by frame data of part of linear audio data received by saidreception means, a start address of the frame data, a stream number ofthe linear audio data-and data indicating the linear audio data, and apacket header having a packet length and data indicating that the packetdata is a private stream; third creating means for creating a pack byadding a pack header for identifying the pack to a packet which includespacket data constructed by part of computer data received by saidreception means, environmental data of an application CPU andapplication OS of the computer data and data indicating the computerdata, and a packet header having a packet length and data indicatingthat the packet data is a private stream; fourth creating means forcreating a pack by adding a pack header for identifying the pack to apacket which includes packet data constructed by part of sub-picturedata received by said reception means, a stream number of thesub-picture data and data indicating the sub-picture data, and a packetheader having a packet length and data indicating that the packet datais a private stream; and recording means for recording the pack createdby said first to fourth creating means on the recording medium.
 16. Anapparatus for recording data on a recording medium which includes amanagement area formed in part of an area, and a data area formed inanother area and in which data is divided into a plurality of programchains and recorded in the data area in a hierarchical structure inwhich each of the program chains is constructed by a plurality ofprograms, one program is constructed by a plurality of cells, and onecell is constructed by a plurality of packs, each pack includes a packheader for identifying the pack and a packet having data recordedtherein; comprising: reception means for receiving data to be reproducedin a special way, Dolby AC3 audio data, linear audio data, computer dataor sub-picture data; first creating means for creating a pack by addinga pack header for identifying the pack to a packet which includes packetdata constructed by part of data to be reproduced in a special wayreceived by said reception means, a stream number of the data to bereproduced in a special way, and data indicating the data to bereproduced in a special way, and a packet header having a packet lengthand data indicating that the packet data is a private stream; secondcreating means for creating a pack by adding a pack header foridentifying the pack to a packet which includes packet data constructedby frame data of part of Dolby AC3 audio data received by said receptionmeans, a start address of the frame data, a stream number of the DolbyAC3 audio data and data indicating the Dolby AC3 audio data, and apacket header having a packet length and data indicating that the packetdata is a private stream; third creating means for creating a pack byadding a pack header for identifying the pack to a packet which includespacket data constructed by frame data of part of linear audio datareceived by said reception means, a start address of the frame data, astream number of the linear audio data and data indicating the linearaudio data, and a packet header having a packet length and dataindicating that the packet data is a private stream; fourth creatingmeans for creating a pack by adding a pack header for identifying thepack to a packet which includes packet data constructed by part ofcomputer data received by said reception means, environmental data of anapplication CPU and application OS of the computer data and dataindicating the computer data, and a packet header having a packet lengthand data indicating that the packet data is a private stream; fifthcreating means for creating a pack by adding a pack header foridentifying the pack to a packet which includes packet data constructedby part of sub-picture data received by said reception means, a streamnumber of the sub-picture data and data indicating the sub-picture data,and a packet header having a packet length and data indicating that thepacket data is a private stream; and recording means for recording thepack created by said first to fifth creating means on the recordingmedium.
 17. A method of reproducing recorded data for each pack from arecording medium which includes a management area formed in part of anarea, and a data area formed in another area and in which data isdivided into a plurality of program chains and recorded in the data areain a hierarchical structure in which each of the program chains isconstructed by a plurality of programs, one program is constructed by aplurality of cells, and one cell is constructed by a plurality of packs,each pack includes a pack header for identifying the pack and a packethaving data recorded therein; comprising the steps of: reading data foreach pack on the recording medium; determining whether or not dataindicating a private stream is present in a packet header of a pack readand determining data length; determining whether data is audio data orsub-picture data according to classification data of a stream which issuccessively read when the private stream is determined; extracting datain the readout pack data by an amount corresponding to the determineddata length according to a start address of frame data which issuccessively read after the classification data of the stream when theaudio data is determined; extracting data in the pack data successivelyread after the classification data of the stream by an amountcorresponding to the determined data length when the sub-picture data isdetermined; subjecting the extracted audio data or sub-picture data to ademodulation process corresponding to the classification of thedetermined data; and outputting the demodulated data.
 18. A reproducingmethod of reproducing recorded data for each pack from a recordingmedium which includes a management area formed in part of an area, and adata area formed in another area and in which data is divided into aplurality of program chains and recorded in the data area in ahierarchical structure in which each of the program chains isconstructed by a plurality of programs, one program is constructed by aplurality of cells, and one cell is constructed by a plurality of packs,each pack includes a pack header for identifying the pack and a packethaving data recorded therein; comprising the steps of: reading data foreach pack on the recording medium; determining whether or not dataindicating a private stream is present in a packet header of a readoutpack and determining data length; determining whether data is Dolby AC3audio data, linear audio data, computer data or sub-picture dataaccording to classification data of a stream which is successively readwhen the private stream is determined; extracting data in the readoutpack data by an amount corresponding to the determined data lengthaccording to a start address of frame data which is successively readafter the classification data of the stream when the Dolby AC3 audiodata or linear audio data is determined; extracting environmental dataof application CPU and application OS successively read after theclassification data of the stream and extracting data in the pack datasuccessively read after the environmental data by an amountcorresponding to the determined data length when the computer data isdetermined; extracting data in the pack data successively read after theclassification data of the stream by an amount corresponding to thedetermined data length when the sub-picture data is determined;subjecting the extracted Dolby AC3 audio data, linear audio data orsub-picture data to a demodulation process corresponding to theclassification of determined data; outputting the demodulated data; andoutputting the extracted program data and environmental data thereof.19. A reproducing method of reproducing recorded data for each pack froma recording medium which includes a management area formed in part of anarea, and a data area formed in another area and in which data isdivided into a plurality of program chains and recorded in the data areain a hierarchical structure in which each of the program chains isconstructed by a plurality of programs, one program is constructed by aplurality of cells, and one cell is constructed by a plurality of packs,each pack includes a pack header for identifying the pack and a packethaving data recorded therein; comprising the steps of: reading data foreach pack on the recording medium; determining whether or not dataindicating a private stream is present in a packet header of a readoutpack and determining data length; determining whether data is data to bereproduced in a special way, Dolby AC3 audio data, linear audio data,computer data or sub-picture data according to classification data of astream which is successively read when the private stream is determined;extracting data in the pack data successively read after theclassification data of the stream by an amount corresponding to thedetermined data length when the data to be reproduced in a special wayis determined; extracting data in the readout pack data by an amountcorresponding to the determined data length according to a start addressof frame data which is successively read after the classification dataof the stream when the Dolby AC3 audio data or linear audio data isdetermined; extracting environmental data of application CPU andapplication OS successively read after the classification data of thestream and extracting data in the pack data successively read after theenvironmental data by an amount corresponding to the determined datalength when the computer data is determined; extracting data in the packdata successively read after the classification data of the stream by anamount corresponding to the determined data length when the sub-picturedata is determined; subjecting the extracted Dolby AC3 audio data,linear audio data or sub-picture data to a demodulation process whichcorresponds to the classification of determined data, and operator inaccordance with data to be reproduced in a special way; outputting thedemodulated data; and outputting the extracted program data andenvironmental data thereof.
 20. An apparatus for reproducing recordeddata for each pack from a recording medium which includes a managementarea formed in part of an area, and a data area formed in another areaand in which data is divided into a plurality of program chains andrecorded in the data area in a hierarchical structure in which each ofthe program chains is constructed by a plurality of programs, oneprogram is constructed by a plurality of cells, and one cell isconstructed by a plurality of packs, each pack includes a pack headerfor identifying the pack and a packet having data recorded therein;comprising: reading means for reading data for each pack on therecording medium; first determining means for determining whether or notdata indicating a private stream is present in a packet header of a packread by said reading means and determining data length; seconddetermining means for determining whether data is audio data orsub-picture data according to classification data of a stream which issuccessively read when said first determining means has determined theprivate stream; first extraction means for extracting audio data in thepack data read by said reading means by an amount corresponding to thedata length determined by said first determining means according to astart address of frame data which is successively read after theclassification data of the stream when said second determining means hasdetermined the audio data; second extraction means for extracting datain the pack data successively read by said reading means after theclassification data of the stream by an amount corresponding to the datalength determined by said first determining means when said seconddetermining means has determined the sub-picture data; demodulatingmeans for subjecting data extracted by said first or second extractionmeans to a demodulation process corresponding to classification of datadetermined by said second determining means; and output means foroutputting data demodulated by said demodulating means.
 21. An apparatusfor reproducing recorded data for each pack from a recording mediumwhich includes a management area formed in part of an area, and a dataarea formed in another area and in which data is divided into aplurality of program chains and recorded in the data area in ahierarchical structure in which each of the program chains isconstructed by a plurality of programs, one program is constructed by aplurality of cells, and one cell is constructed by a plurality of packs,each pack includes a pack header for identifying the pack and a packethaving data recorded therein, comprising: reading means for reading datafor each pack on the recording medium; first determining means fordetermining whether or not data indicating a private stream is presentin a packet header of a pack read by said reading means and determiningdata length; second determining means for determining whether data isDolby AC3 audio data, linear audio data, computer data or sub-picturedata according to classification data of a stream which is successivelyread when said first determining means has determined the privatestream; first extraction means for extracting Dolby AC3 audio data orlinear audio data in the pack data read by said reading means by anamount corresponding to the data length determined by said firstdetermining means according to a start address of frame data which issuccessively read after the classification data of the stream when saidsecond determining means has determined the Dolby AC3 audio data orlinear audio data; second extraction means for extracting environmentaldata of application CPU and application OS successively read after theclassification data of the stream and extracting data in the pack datasuccessively read by said reading means after the environmental data byan amount corresponding to the data length determined by said firstdetermining means when said second determining means has determined thecomputer data; third extraction means for extracting data in the packdata successively read by said reading means after the classificationdata of the stream by an amount corresponding to the data lengthdetermined by said first determining means when said second determiningmeans has determined the sub-picture data; demodulating means forsubjecting data extracted by said first or third extraction means to ademodulation process corresponding to the classification of datadetermined by said second determining means; first output means foroutputting data demodulated by said demodulating means; and secondoutput means for outputting program data extracted by said secondextraction means and environmental data thereof.
 22. An apparatus forreproducing recorded data for each pack from a recording medium whichincludes a management area formed in part of an area, and a data areaformed in another area and in which data is divided into a plurality ofprogram chains and recorded in the data area in a hierarchical structurein which each of the program chains is constructed by a plurality ofprograms, one program is constructed by a plurality of cells, and onecell is constructed by a plurality of packs, each pack includes a packheader for identifying the pack and a packet having data recordedtherein, comprising: reading means for reading data for each pack on therecording medium; first determining means for determining whether or notdata indicating a private stream is present in a packet header of a packread by said reading means and determining data length; seconddetermining means for determining whether data is data to be reproducedin a special way Dolby AC3 audio data, linear audio data, computer dataor sub-picture data according to classification data of a stream whichis successively read when said first determining means has determinedthe private stream; first extrication means for extracting data in thepack data successively read by said reading means after theclassification data of the stream by an amount corresponding to the datalength determined by said first determining means when said seconddetermining means has determined the data to be reproduced in a specialway; second extraction means for extracting Dolby AC3 audio data orlinear audio data in the pack data read by said reading means by anamount corresponding to the data length determined by said firstdetermining means according to a start address of frame data which issuccessively read after the classification data of the stream when saidsecond determining means has determined the Dolby AC3 audio data orlinear audio data; third extraction means for extracting environmentaldata of application CPU and application OS successively read after theclassification data of the stream and extracting data in the pack datasuccessively read by said reading means after the environmental data byan amount corresponding to the data length determined by said firstdetermining means when said second determining means has determined thecomputer data; fourth extraction means for extracting data in the packdata successively read by said reading means after the classificationdata of the stream by an amount corresponding to the data lengthdetermined by said first determining means when said second determiningmeans has determined the sub-picture data; demodulating means forsubjecting data extracted by said first or fourth extraction means to ademodulation process which corresponds to the classification of datadetermined by said second determining means, and operator in accordancewith data to be reproduced in a special way; first output means foroutputting data demodulated by said demodulating means; and secondoutput means for outputting program data extracted by said secondextraction means and environmental data thereof.
 23. A method ofreproducing data, comprising the steps of: receiving data transferredfrom a device, said data consisting of a plurality of data unitsrepresenting objects to be reproduced sequentially, each data unit beinga stream of compressed data packs each including at least one of audiodata, video data and sub-picture data; determining whether or not dataindicating a private stream is present in a packet header of each packreceived, and determining a length of each pack; determining whetherdata is audio data or sub-picture data according to classification dataof a stream which is successively received when the private stream isdetermined; extracting data in the readout pack data by an amountcorresponding to the determined data length according to a start addressof frame data which is successively received after the classificationdata of the stream when the audio data is determined; extracting data inthe pack data successively received after the classification data of thestream by an amount corresponding to the determined data length when thesub-picture data is determined; subjecting the extracted audio data orsub-picture data to a demodulation process corresponding to theclassification of the determined data; and outputting the demodulateddata.
 24. A method of reproducing data, comprising the steps of:receiving data transferred from a device, said data consisting of aplurality of data units representing objects to be reproducedsequentially, each data unit being a stream of compressed data packseach including at least one of audio data, video data and sub-picturedata; determining whether or not data indicating a private stream ispresent in a packet header of each pack received, and determining alength of each pack; determining whether data is data to be reproducedin a special way, Dolby AC3 audio data, linear audio data, computer dataor sub-picture data according to classification data of a stream whichis successively received when the private stream is determined;extracting data in the received pack data by an amount corresponding tothe determined data length according to a start address of frame datawhich is successively received after the classification data of thestream when the Dolby AC3 audio data or linear audio data is determined;extracting environmental data of application CPU and application OSsuccessively received after the classification data of the stream andextracting data in the pack data successively received after theenvironmental data by an amount corresponding to the determined datalength when the computer data is determined; extracting data in the packdata successively received after the classification data of the streamby an amount corresponding to the determined data length when thesub-picture data is determined; subjecting the extracted Dolby AC3 audiodata, linear audio data or sub-picture data to a demodulation processwhich corresponds to the classification of determined data and operatorin accordance with data to be reproduced in a special way; outputtingthe demodulated data; and outputting the extracted program data andenvironmental data thereof.
 25. A method of reproducing data, comprisingthe steps of: receiving data transferred from a device, said dataconsisting of a plurality of data units representing objects to bereproduced sequentially, each data unit being a stream of compresseddata packs each including at least one of audio data, video data andsub-picture data; determining whether or not data indicating a privatestream is present in a packet header of each pack received, anddetermining a length of each pack; determining whether data is data tobe reproduced in a special way Dolby AC3 audio data, linear audio data,computer data or sub-picture data according to classification data of astream which is successively received when the private stream isdetermined; extracting data in the pack data by an amount correspondingto the determined data length according to a start address of frame datawhich is successively received after the classification data of thestream when the Dolby AC3 audio data linear audio data is determined;extracting environmental data of application CPU and application OSsuccessively received after the classification data of the stream andextracting data in the pack data successively read after theenvironmental data by an amount corresponding to the determined datalength when the computer data is determined; extracting data in the packdata successively received after the classification data of the streamby an amount corresponding to the determined data length when thesub-picture data is determined; subjecting the extracted data to bereproduced in a special way Dolby AC3 audio data, linear audio data orsub-picture data to a demodulation process corresponding to theclassification of the determined data; outputting the demodulated data;and outputting the extracted program data and environmental datathereof.
 26. An apparatus for reproducing data comprising: receivingmeans for receiving data transferred from a device, said data consistingof a plurality of data units representing objects to be reproducedsequentially, each data unit being a stream of compressed data packseach including at least one of audio data, video data and sub-picturedata; first determining means for determining whether or not dataindicating a private stream is present in a packet header of each packreceived by said receiving means, and determining a length of each pack;second determining means for determining whether data is audio data orsub-picture data according to classification data of a stream which issuccessively received when said first determining means has determinedthe private stream; first extraction means for extracting audio data inthe pack data received by an amount corresponding to the data lengthdetermined by said first determining means according to a start addressof frame data which is successively received after the classificationdata of the stream when said second determining means has determined theaudio data; second extraction means for extracting data in the pack datasuccessively received after the classification data of the stream by anamount corresponding to the data length determined by said firstdetermining means when said second determining means has determined thesub-picture data; demodulating means for subjecting data extracted bysaid first or second extraction means to a demodulation processcorresponding to classification of data determined by said seconddetermining means; and output means for outputting data demodulated bysaid demodulating means.
 27. An apparatus for reproducing datacomprising: receiving means for receiving data transferred from adevice, said data consisting of a plurality of data units representingobjects to be reproduced sequentially, each data unit being a stream ofcompressed data packs each including at least one of audio data, videodata and sub-picture data; first determining means for determiningwhether or not data indicating a private stream is present in a packetheader of each pack received by said receiving means, and determining alength of each pack; second determining means for determining whetherdata is Dolby AC3 audio data, linear audio date, computer data orsub-picture data according to classification data of a stream which issuccessively received when said first determining means has determinedthe private stream; first extraction means for extracting Dolby AC3audio data or linear audio data in the pack data read by said readingmeans by an amount corresponding to the data length determined by saidfirst determining means according to a start address of frame data whichis successively received after the classification data of the streamwhen said second determining means has determined the Dolby AC3 audiodata or linear audio data; second extraction means for extractingenvironmental data of application CPU and application OS successivelyreceived after the classification data of the stream and extracting datain the pack data successively read by said reading means after theenvironmental data by an amount corresponding to the data lengthdetermined by said first determining means when said second determiningmeans has determined the computer data; third extraction means forextracting data in the pack data successively received after theclassification data the stream by an amount corresponding to the datalength determined by said first determining means when said seconddetermining means has determined the sub-picture data; demodulatingmeans for subjecting data extracted by said first or third extractionmeans to a demodulation process corresponding to the classification ofdata determined by said second determining means; first output means foroutputting data demodulated by said demodulating means; and secondoutput means for outputting program data extracted by said secondextraction means and environmental data thereof.
 28. An apparatus forreproducing data comprising: receiving means for receiving datatransferred from a device, said data consisting of a plurality of dataunits representing objects to be reproduced sequentially, each data unitbeing a stream of compressed data packs each including at least one ofaudio data, video data and sub-picture data; first determining means fordetermining whether or not data indicating a private stream is presentin a packet header of each pack received by said receiving means, anddetermining a length of each pack; second determining means fordetermining whether data is data to be reproduced in a special way DolbyAC3 audio data, linear audio data, computer data or sub-picture dataaccording to classification data of a stream which is successively readwhen said first determining means has determined the private stream;first extraction means for extracting data in the pack data successivelyreceived after the classification data of the stream by an amountcorresponding to the data length determined by said first determiningmeans when said second determining means has determined the data to bereproduced in a special way; second extraction means for extractingDolby AC3 audio data or linear audio data in the pack data received bysaid by an amount corresponding to the data length determined by saidfirst determining means according to a start address of frame data whichis successively received after the classification data of the streamwhen said second determining means has determined the Dolby AC3 audiodata and linear audio data; third extraction means for extractingenvironmental data of application CPU and application OS successivelyreceived after the classification data of the stream and extracting datain the pack data successively received after the environmental data byan amount corresponding to the data length determined by said firstdetermining means when said second determining means has determined thecomputer data; fourth extraction means for extracting data in the packdata successively received after the classification data of the streamby an amount corresponding to the data length determined by said firstdetermining means when said second determining means has determined thesub-picture data; demodulating means for subjecting data extracted bysaid first or fourth extraction means to a demodulation process whichcorresponds to the classification of data determined by said seconddetermining means, and operator in accordance with data to be reproducedin a special way; first output means for outputting data demodulated bysaid demodulating means; and second output means for outputting programdata extracted by said second extraction means and environmental datathereof.